120 Mr. II. B. Fantham 



XIT. — Oil Tlermaphroditmn and Vestigial Structures in the 

 Reproductive Organs of Testudo grfeca. By H. B. 

 FanthaMj B.Sc. Lond., A.R.C.S,, University College, 

 London. 



[Plate VT.] 



Among tlie various groups of the Vertebrata from time to 

 time there occur cases of true hermaphroditism, or of tlie 

 persistence of some of the genital organs of the o;:)posite sex, 

 especially in the male. Such occurrences are of interest, and 

 as apparently fttw (if, indeed, any) instances liave hitherto 

 been described among the CheL)nia, I considered tiie following 

 two cases, which recently came under my notice, worthy of 

 record. 



Last summer, while dissecting a specimen of Testudo 

 grceca^ an abnormal development of the genitalia was 

 noticed. Further examination showed tliat the specimen in 

 question was hermaphrodite, after comparison with male and 

 i'emale specimens of this tortoise procured and dissected. 

 Since that date other adult specimens of Testudo grceca have 

 been examined, about a dozen altogether, of which all but 

 two possessed the external characters of the male. Among 

 those with male external features was one showing the 

 persistence of the Miillerian ducts as slender rudimentary 

 tubes. To distinguish between these two tortoises, each with 

 abnormal reproductive organs, the hermaphrodite specimen 

 first found may be denoted b}'- A, and the second one (a 

 male with vestigial oviducts) by B. The anatomy and 

 histology of each may then be dealt with, as far as possible. 



I. External Characters and Anatomy. 



The external features aiding in tlie determination of the 

 sex of a tortoise are, according to Gadow [4], as follows : — 

 The male is slightly smaller in size, has a long tail, and 

 possesses a concave plastron. The plastron of the female is 

 flat. Another point of difference between the sexes that I 

 noticed was in the shape of the posterior end of the plastron, 

 as viewed ventrally (see text-figures). 



Concerning the anatomy of the tortoise, no easily accessible 

 detailed account in English is known to me. I have used 

 Bojanus's figures and explanations of Emys europcea [2]. 

 In Sedgwick^s recently published " Vertebrata ^^ [10] of 

 his * Student^s Text-book of Zoology,' howevej-^ a good 

 general account of the anatomy of the Chelonia jg oiven. 



