ON THE APPENDICES GENITALIS (CI.ASPKRSi IN THE SELACHIANS. 



«3 



den Holocefihali^ Callorhynchus und Chimcera besitzt das Manuchen vor dem Pterygopodium jederseits 

 einen sehr verwickelt gebauten Apparat. Derselbe besteht aus einer Tasche, in welcher mehrere, 

 Knorpel enthaltende , mit Widerhaken versehene Stiicke hervorgestreckt werden konneu. Icli fund 

 diese Tasche bei Callorhynchus mit Sainen gefullt Audi bei dieser Gruppe der Elasmobranchier 

 wird demnach der Samen vor der Begattung nach aussen gebracht. Wie freilich hic-r die Begattung 

 stattfinden wird, lasst sich vorlaufig niclit angeben. The essential thing is that Schneider declares 

 to have found sperm in the bag in Acanthias and in the pouch of the pelvic appendages in Callo- 

 rhynchus; certainly no proof is given, but we shall have to suppose that Schneider has really found 

 the spermatozoids. Whether these have been numerous, that is to say, whether the bags in question 

 really can be said to have been filled with the semen, of this we know nothing with certainty, and 

 we can -- in my opinion - not yet in any way put it down as an indubitable fact that the glandular 

 bag of the Plagiostomes is a reservoir that has to be filled with the semen and by the copulation to 

 eject it. Nothing is said of the way, in which the filling of the bags in question should take place. 



I have unfortunately not been able to get a paper by Has well (Notes on the claspers of 

 Heptanchus. Proc. Linn. Soc. N. South Wales, vol.9, P- 2 i P- 3& 1 )- 



During the time between the appearing of the present essay in Danish and this translation I 

 have received a paper by H. C. Red eke (Onderzoekingen betreffende bet Urogenitaalsystem der Se- 

 lachiers en Holocephalen. Acad. Proefschrift etc. Helder 1898) in which (p. 77) after a representation 

 of what till then was known regarding the appendages and their function, the author declares that 

 he has himself found numerous spermatozoa in the mixipterygoid bag ') in one single specimen 

 among many examined specimens of Mustehis vulgaris. He calls, however, attention to the fact that 

 the bag was not filled, which fact he explains by supposing, either that the animal during its agony 

 might have emptied the bag, or rather that these animals will copulate, as soon as the bag is filled. 

 An observation by another observer, respecting a male Raja clavata that had ejected an abundance of 

 semen through the dilated appendices, can scarcely be regarded to be of any value, as there is no 

 proof to the effect that the ejected fluid in reality was semen and not the secretion from the gland. 

 Finally is quoted an observation by Professor M. Weber, which observation the author thinks may 

 be used to explain, in what manner the filling of the glandular bag might be brought about. I shall 

 give the proper words of the author, and else abstain from advancing my strong doubt of the fact: 

 Deze (Prof. Weber) nam waar, hoe eeu groote Rog {Raja clavata) rondzwemmende in een der bassins, 

 plotseling eeu groote wolk, vermoedelijk sperma, loosde en vervolgens, misschien reflectorisch, heftig 

 met zijn mixipterygien begon te zwaaien, die daarbij een pompende beweging schenen nit te voeren. 

 Het is niet onmogelijk, dat 00k in de natuur, al is de omweg eeu allerzonderlingste, het sperma eerst 

 in een groote hoeveelheid geloosd en gelijktijdig door de mixipterygien in den zak opgezogen wordt. 



■I The appellation of Mmpterygium, which has of late often been used in stead of the objectionable Pterygopodium 

 of Petri, is due to Gegenbaur (Das Flossenskelet der Crossopterygier etc. Morph. Jahrb. vol.22, 1S95, p. 146, note 1 



