CIRRHOPODA. 359 



he deemed to be ova ; and conceived tlic delicate white vessel 

 seen to ramify through the ovarian mass, as represented in the 

 figure, to be the oviduct whereby the eggs were taken up and 

 conveyed into the thick and glandular canal A, from the walls 

 of which he imagined that a fecundating liquor might be secreted 

 for the impregnation of the ova in transitu. He, therefore, re- 

 garded the proboscidiform tube, Ar, as an ovipositor, whereby the 

 ova derived from both sides of the body are expelled. Before 

 scattering them abroad, as Cuvier noticed, the animal retains 

 them for a considerable length of time concealed between the 

 body and the mantle, where they form two or three irregularly 

 shaped layers. When the eggs are found in this situation, he 

 observed that the ovaria were empty and the testicles much less 

 tumid, circumstances which indicate the season of oviposition to 

 be at an end. 



In opposition to the views entertained by Cuvier concerning 

 the generative process in the class before us, various continental 

 writers consider the true ovary to be contained in the cavity of 

 the tubular fleshy pedicle, which in Pentalasmis serves to fix 

 the body to the substance whereunto it is attached. This, indeed, 

 at certain periods, is found to be filled with oval granular bodies 

 of regular shape, which are apparently real ova diffused through 

 the loose cellulosity enclosed within it ; and these ova, being 

 found in different states of maturity, are apparently secreted in the 

 pedicle itself, although some authors contend that, having been 

 formed and impregnated in the manner indicated by Cuvier, they 

 are conveyed into this situation by the ovipositor, as upon this 

 assumption the prolonged organ (fig- 169, k) would be named. 

 Other anatomists, again, regard the instrument last mentioned 

 as being a real penis, and suggest that from its length it might 

 even be introduced into the peduncular cavity itself, and thus 

 effect the impregnation of the ova contained therein. 



The observations of Mr. Thompson* relative to the progress 

 of the ova after their escape from the pedicle, throw much addi- 

 tional light upon this portion of our subject. " In the whole 

 tribe of Cirripeds," says this industrious naturalist, " the ova, 

 after their expulsion from the ovarium, appear to be conveyed by 

 the ovipositor into the cellular texture of the pedicle, just beneath 

 the body of the animal, which they fill to the distance of about 

 an inch. When first placed in this position, they seem to be 



* Phil. Trans, for 1835, page 356. 



