LAWSON, ON LIMAX MAXIMUS. 31 
The female portion, as with Helix, comprises the ovary, 
oviduct, albumen-gland, uterus, and vagina. The ovary, un- 
like that of the snail,* is not a mere flattened expansion, 
almost inseparably united to the lobules of the liver; but is 
a thick, imperfectly egg-shaped, oblong gland, of a purplish- 
brown colour, divided coarsely into three or four lobes, and 
these again into innumerable lobules, which project in every 
direction, being more loosely bound together than in Helix. 
It is situate beneath the final and posterior lobe of the liver, 
and immediately behind the stomach; it is bounded below 
by the musculo-cutaneous structure of the foot, upon which 
it lies almost freely, being merely attached to the inferior 
portions of the liver by loose filaments of connective tissue. 
It is 2 inch long, + inch wide, and + inch thick, but in the 
unimpregnated condition it is diminished in bulk by about 
one third of the whole. Viewed under a medium power, the 
lobules appear as small cavities, of an irregular, spherical 
shape, which seems due to compression, these being 
filled with a transparent fluid and numerous endoplasts con- 
taining granules; to each group of five or six lobules a slight 
branch of the oviduct is adherent, but it cannot be traced 
to any individual lobule, appearing, as it were, to become 
continuous with the connective tissue which serves to unite 
them in bundles. 
In the anatomy of this organ I have been more than ever 
convinced of the error of H. Miiller’s views, for if any second 
vesicle existed within the ovarian lobule, I could not have 
failed to detect it; but nothing bearing the faintest resem- 
blance to an included saccule could be discovered; nor have 
I detected the presence of zoosperms, although I have oc- 
casionally seen them in small numbers within the ovarian 
follicles of the snail. The ovary is provided with a tolerably 
large blood-vessel, one of the main branches of the superior 
division of the aorta, and the chief peculiarity of the cir- 
culation is this:—the arterial vessel, having sent several 
branches to the gland, passes from it, and is distributed to 
the posterior lobe of the liver. At the middle of the anterior 
inferior border of the egg-gland enters the oviduct, a deli- 
cate conduit, cylindrically tubular throughout, a little convo- 
luted anteriorly, and containing no second canal, which is 
very slightly larger at its anterior than at its ovarian extremity, 
and is of a pearly-white colour. It is situate between ovary 
and uterus, being placed at first beneath the liver and 
stomach, but afterwards, assuming a superior position, lies 
* “The Generative System of Helix aspersa,” by the author. ‘ Quart. 
Journ. of Micros, Science’ for Oct., 1861. 
