Hermaphroditism c&c. in Testudo gra3ca. 



121 



At first it does not appear easy to delineate the relation of 

 the gonad and the kidney in Testudo. The latter organ 

 (kidney) is very dorsal and posterior in position and needs 

 careful dissection, being covered ventrally by a black pig- 

 mented body. This is the epididymis, lying naturally on 



A marked indentation or angle at x in the ease of the exoskeleton of the 

 male. The female is more rounded than the male, especially at Y. 

 X . 



the top of the kidney, from the ventral aspect, in a closely 

 ensheatliing and darkly pigmented mesentery [cf. PI. VI. 

 fig. 2, ep.). In this mesentery vasa efferentia pass from the 

 testis, and by it the testes are attached to the kidneys. The 

 testes (fig. 2, t.) are normally brownish-yellow bodies, ovoid 

 in shape, about 1"6 to 1'8 cm. long, 1-2 to 1'3 cm. broad, and 

 1 cm. thick. The kidneys (fig. 2, k.) are dark brown, 

 showing a convoluted ventral surface. There is a slight 

 orange supra-renal body on the ventral or inner surface of 

 each kidney, partly covered in the natural position by the 

 epididymis and testis. The supra-renal body of each side is 

 apparently the " Ren succenturiatus '' of Bojanus in his 

 figures of Emys europcea. 



Tortoise A. — This specimen in external features possessed 

 a slightly concave plastron (rather less concave than in the 

 normal male), had a long tail, and was a little smaller in size 

 thanthefemale specimens compared (tliough,of course, this may 

 be merely a question of age). It had well developed gonads — 

 the left one of which, at any rate, might be termed an " ovo- 

 testis'^ (see below) — and well developed oviducts (Miillerian 

 ducts), in addition to well-marked epididymes, vasa deferentia, 

 and penis, which are, of course, essentially male genitalia. 

 The epididymes of this specimen were slightly larger than ia 

 some of the normal males examined. The gonads (PI. VI. 



Ann, (So Mag. N. Ilist. Ser. 7. Vol. xvi. 9 



