130 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEtJM [1885. 



fouDcl only seven or eight foetuses iu tbe so called uterus of each female, 

 and each of the young was surrounded by a distinct sac, which he re- 

 gards as simply an enlargement of the original envelope of the ovum. 

 The mature fcetus he found to be more than one-fourth as long as the 

 parent, and except for the non-development of the ovary was constituted 

 in every respect like the adult, as regards both its internal and external 

 structure. 



" For the specimens of Anahleps Gronovii upon which the following ob- 

 servations were made, I am indebted to the liberality of Dr. Francis W. 

 Cragin, United States consul at Paramaribo, in Surinam. Among them 

 were three males and five females, four of which last were in difierent 

 stages of gestation. The difierent individuals varied from 3^ to 9.J 

 inches in length, the females being much longer than the males. 



"I. The smallest female measured 3 J inches in length, but on careful 

 examination no traces of an ovary were discovered ; its development did 

 not appear to have commenced as yet. 



"II. The next specimen measured 7 inches in length and the ovary 

 was in a state of gestation ; the foetuses, four or five in number, meas- 

 ured but five-eighths of an inch. The ovary appeared single externally ; 

 was invested with peritoneum, which was supported by a more firm but 

 thin membrane of condensed areolar tissue ; on cutting through this the 

 interior was found filled with sacs corresponding in number to the foe- 

 tuses and united to each other and the ovarian walls by a very loose 

 areolar tissue. They had no communication of any kind with each 

 other. With the aid of the poiut of a needle the sacs were easilj^ de- 

 tached and removed entire with the inclosed foetus ; the envelope was 

 much larger than was necessary to hold the embryo, and the space be- 

 tween the two was filled with a fluid, a portion of which (albumen ?) had 

 been coagulated by the action of the alcohol. In each instance it was 

 ascertained that the young had no connection whatever, vascular or 

 otherwise, with the walls of the sac which inclosed it. 



" The external characters of the embryo even at this early stage, as 

 regards its general form and the fins, resemble those of the adult ; but 

 no longitudinal black bands were yet visible on the sides; the eye had 

 not acquired the prominence of that of the adult, the cornea was not 

 divided by a transverse band, and the pupil existed in the form of an 

 oval, with its long diameter iu a vertical direction, but the sides of the 

 iris had just commenced' extending towards the center in order to form 

 the two lamina?, which in the adult give the pupil its singular shape. 

 The umbilical sac forms a spheroidal mass about one-fourth of an inch 

 in diameter, and is sutflciently transparent to allow the folds of the in- 

 testine which fill it to be visible. Externally the sac is covered with 

 what appear to be parallel projecting lines, extending from the sides of 

 the abdomen to its most prominent part. These A^alenciennes describes 

 as 'vascular striae' {stries vasculiformes).* Such was not the nature of 



* Op. cit., ex t'ol. de plaache, 539. 



