The Ovary of Felichthys Felis, the Gaff-topsail Catfish. 115 
and crowding the stomach forward (unfortunately my notes make no 
mention of the liver, which presumably shrinks in size somewhat), 
and the intestine becomes greatly reduced, stringy, and filled with 
mucus. Apparently the female does not feed as the breeding season 
approaches its height, or if she does feed it must be on very small 
objects, since there is no room in the stomach for the common, but 
bulky, diet of crabs. 
The ovary is richly supplied with blood-vessels which descend from 
the hinder region of the kidneys and reach the ovary at about the point 
where the ovisacs unite to form the short oviduct. Here the vessel 
forks, one branch going to the oviducal part and the other to the ovisacs. 
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE OVARY. 
The general internal arrangements of the ovary are, in the main, 
correctly foretold by the external appearance—two hollow pouches 
closed in front and confluent behind into a short, common oviduct 
whose length and diameter are approximately equal. However, each 
ovisac from its point of junction to its forward extremity is divided 
roughly into three nearly equal parts, of which only the foremost 
bears eggs. The posterior third is raised up into closely placed longi- 
tudinal folds or plaits, which at the time for oviposition allow for the 
great distention due to the passage of the 18 to 20 mm. eggs. These 
eggs are developed in the anterior third of the ovisac, each egg in a 
follicle swung by a long pedicel. 
Thus we see that only the anterior third of each ovisac produces eggs, 
while the hinder third is an oviduct pure and simple, which unites 
with its fellow to form the short, unpaired tube leading to the genital 
aperture. However, between the plicated hinder section of the gonad 
and the anterior ovigerous region is a debatable land which belongs 
hardly to either and yet to both. As the plice extend forward they 
decrease in height and, losing their distinctive form as mere folds, 
become covered on both sides with small eggs. Further forward they 
become mere ridges, but distinct enough for the eggs to show up in 
rows. Still further forward the ridges disappear, and this region of 
small eggs finally disappears into that wherein the functional eggs are 
formed. ‘These structures may be fairly well seen in figures 4 and 5 
of plate 3, in figure 6 of plate 4, and in c of figure 8, plate 4. In the 
forward region the arrangement of the eggs in longitudinal rows is 
completely lost—there is no longer any definite arrangement whatever’ 
This division of the ovisacs into anterior egg-bearing and posterior 
plicated oviducal parts with an intermediate region is not true of 
immature and spent ovaries only. As the time for oviposition 
approaches, the eggs in the forward ends of the sacs become greatly 
enlarged, while the debatable region develops great numbers of small 
eggs which come away readily and which seem never to become func- 
