The Ovary of Felichthys Felis, the Gaff-topsail Catfish. 123 
vesicles were all so closely crowded in the anterior section that the 
sides were flattened. The anterior third of this ovary was greatly 
distended, the wall of the ovisac being so thin as readily to permit 
the passage of light. The thin parchment-like peritoneal layer would 
easily come away from the germinal epithelium. The elongated pedi- 
cels of the posterior eggs allowed them to be carried back into the region 
of non-functional eggs in the intermediate section among which they 
were found nested. 
Ovary No. 3 was also dissected, and its left lobe was found to con- 
tain 2 empty follicles and 27 large eggs, about 20 mm. in diameter. 
Presuming that the right sac contains an equal number, the total for 
this organ will be 54. The walls of the intermediate section of this 
ovary are very thick and leathery, measuring 5 mm. from the outside 
to the lumen of the oviduct. Some of the plicated oviducal folds have 
considerable height, measuring as much as 7 mm. 
Wehave here studied 5 sets of ovaries, making a fairly complete series, 
from very small to very large. We had first very small, immature 
ovaries; next small, spent ovaries; next larger, spent ovaries; then 
half-ripe ovaries, and lastly these organs with eggs nearly ripe enough 
for extrusion. In Nos. 1, 2, 3 the ovaries are comparatively thick- 
walled, while in Nos. 4 and 5 the great enlargement brought about 
by the growing eggs is shown in the distention and thinning down of 
the walls of the anterior section. 
SIZE OF EGGS AND NUMBER FOUND IN OVARY. 
In the paper elsewhere referred to (Gudger, 1918) the question of 
the size of the ripe eggs has been considered in considerable detail. 
Also, in the section dealing with ripe ovaries, considerable data have 
been given touching the matter of the size of the eggs. Hence it 
will be sufficient here to give the mere facts. 
From the large number of measurements made, the following may 
be selected as thoroughly representative. Of live eggs, 138 measured 
as follows: longest diameter, 17.5 mm. minimum to 21.5 mm. maximum. 
The largest numbers were 39 eggs of 19 mm. diameter; 38 of 20 mm.; 
19 of 21 mm.; 22 of 21.5 mm.; average for 138 live eggs, 18.8 mm. Of 
preserved eggs, 189 measurements were made; the smallest were 
16.5 mm. and the largest 22 mm. in diameter. The largest numbers 
here were 34 eggs of 19 mm., 64 of 20 mm., and 49 of 21 mm. The 
average for 189 eggs was 20 mm., and the general average for 327 
eggs was 19.5 mm. in diameter. The largest numbers of eggs were 
found in the 19, 20, and 21 mm. sets, the 20 mm. eggs being the most 
numerous—102 out of 327 eggs measured. Normal eggs in early 
stages of development may be seen in figure 7, plate 4. 
In the section dealing with ripe ovaries, the numbers of eggs found 
therein and nearly ready for extrusion have been noted. Specimen 
