152 J. T. CUNNINGHAM. 



great many places is proliferating, aud so giving rise to large 

 numb'ers of new eggs. These young eggs, or germ-cells, are 

 collected in small groups, which project inwards from the 

 germinal epithelium towards the interior of the lamella, and 

 these groups are doubtless formed by the subdivision of one or 

 a few cells. 



Of the intermediate or second of the stages defined above I 

 have only one preparation. It was made from material pre- 

 served in a mixture of chromic acid and platinum chloride. 

 The appearance of a portion of one of these sections is shown 

 in fig. 32, which represents part of the transverse section of 

 a lamella. It will be seen that the lamella consists of adipose 

 tissue in which are embedded two rows of cells, one correspond- 

 ing to each surface of the lamella. The largest eggs are 

 •25 mm. in diameter. Near the periphery of these eggs there 

 is a zone of vacuoles, which in the fresh state were oil globules. 

 No yolk elements are distinguishable. 



In his paper on the sexual organs of Mursenidse^ J. Brock 

 has given an interpretation of the structure of the ovary which 

 differs from mine, and which I believe to be erroneous. With- 

 out mentioning the size of the fish whose ovaries he examined, 

 he describes a stage of the conger ovary in which the lamellae 

 are no higher than they are broad. In each lamella, at this 

 stage, there are eggs towards each surface in two or three 

 layers, while in the axis of the lamella, cavities are beginning 

 to appear in the supporting tissue. He then describes ovaries 

 of Conger and Myrus, which were apparently advanced in 

 development. The lamellse in these were 2 — 3 mm. high. He 

 found that when stained in the mass these ovarian lamellae 

 retained their opaque white colour, as though they consisted 

 merely of fat, showing only small stained dots scattered at 

 intervals. He states then that microscopic examination ex- 

 plained the mystery ; that abortion of sexual cells must have 

 taken place on a large scale, for the whole ovary consisted of 

 a narrow-meshed network of empty follicular membranes, in 



' " Uiitersuchungen iiber die Gesclileclitsorgane eiuiger Murseuoiden," 

 •Mitt. Zool. Stat. NeapeJ,' Bd. ii, 1881. 



