CH. VIIl] FROGS, TOADS, AND NEWTS 279 



already mentioned, there is upon the outer side of each 

 ureter and connected with it by numerous fine ducts 

 a considerable dilatation, the vesicula seminalis, within 

 which spermatozoa can be stored ; the walls of the 

 vesicula also secrete a fluid in which the spermatozoa 

 swim. Closely united with the external edge of the 

 vesicula is a fine cord which passes forwards, tapering away, 

 and represents the oviduct of the female. 



The ovaries in the female occupy positions correspond- 

 ing to the testes of the male. They are however very 

 much larger and are divided into about ten well marked 

 lobes. At the breeding season they become immense and 

 occupy the greater part of the body cavity. They present, 

 when nearing maturity, a speckled black and white ap- 

 pearance owing to the ova being black at one pole and 

 white at the other. The oviducts are, in the full-grown 

 animal, highly convoluted, white, opalescent tubes. They 

 open by semilunar slits into the body cavity at its anterior 

 end near the bases of the lungs. The two apertures face 

 obliquely towards one another and are lined with ciliated 

 epithelium. The walls of the oviducts are glandular, and 

 the lumen of the tube of almost uniform calibre until just 

 before they reach the cloaca. At this point they suddenly 

 enlarge and the walls become thin. The oviducts open 

 into the dorsal wall of the cloaca, the right slightly 

 behind the left, immediately anterior to the openings 

 of the ureters. 



The breeding season may begin as early as February 

 or, if the winter be prolonged, as late as April. The male 

 is now easily distinguishable from the female by his 



