374 Coe and Kunkel— California Limbless Lizard. 
Since only one egg is usually matured in each ovary at each breed- 
ing season, as a rule one ovum in each ovary is distinctly larger than 
the others. The ovary is irregular in shape, conforming to the 
uneven arrangement of the larger and smaller ova, so that this gland 
is naturally smallest immediately after the discharge of its one large 
ovum. We are unable to state the time of year when such discharge 
takes place or the actual size or appearance of the egg on reaching 
the oviduct. As will be described below, the left oviduct is aborted 
and functionless in all of the individuals which we have examined, 
so that both the eggs discharged from the ovaries must enter the 
right oviduct. 
Microscopic sections of the ovary indicate that the ova develop 
in a manner quite similar to that described for Lacerta by Hoffmann 
(89). The conspicuous zona radiata of the partly developed ovum 
is surrounded by a single layer of smaller cells, each of which is 
very similar to the egg itself. Among these smaller follicular cells, 
as well as on their internal and external faces, are minute nuclei of 
cells which form a sort of capsule for the follicular cells. As the 
ovum increases in size and acquires more yolk, the follicular cells, 
which were previously so very similar to the ovum itself, become 
gradually smaller and more numerous. Their function is evidently 
to elaborate food materials which pass through the zona radiata to 
the ovum. The presence of a capsule about the follicular cells indi- 
cates that they are merely degenerate ova which contribute their 
food materials to the support of the single ovum which reaches 
maturity. 
Oviducts.—The most striking peculiarity of the oviducts is the fact 
that the right oviduct only is capable of receiving the eggs discharged 
from the ovaries, and it is, therefore, in the right alone that the 
embryos develop. In every one of the numerous females examined 
the left oviduct was much aborted, seldom exceeding a few milli- 
meters in length (pl. xi1u, figs. 25, 26) and entirely incapable of per- 
forming its normal functions. 
The right oviduct is very similar to one of the oviducts of Anguis 
and other lizards. When without eggs it is a long slender tube, 
exhibiting numerous convolutions in its anterior half, and extending 
forward anterior to the ovary. Its anterior end usually lies near the 
posterior end of the liver, and opens into the body cavity by a large, 
funnel-shaped opening (pl. xii, figs. 25, 26, 0) as in other lizards. 
This terminal ostium is supported by strong mesenteries, forming the 
broad ligament, and commonly lies several times its own length in 
front of the ovary. 
