536 PISCES FISHES. 



(583.) The sexual organs of the male Chondropterygii ate very 

 remarkable, and their real character is not properly understood. 

 The testicle (fig. 237, n) is large, and occupies the same posi- 

 tion as the ovary of the female ; but the singularity of this 

 testis consists in its being made up of two portions, one of which 

 has an excretory duct, while the other, although equally bulky, has 

 none. 



The former portion, when minutely examined, is composed of an 

 immense assemblage of flexuous secerning vessels, that pour their 

 secretion into a long and tortuous vas deferens (o), which, after run- 

 ning in a zig-zag course nearly the whole length of the abdomen, 

 dilates into a capacious reservoir of semen (/?), and ultimately ter- 

 minates with its fellow of the opposite side in a conical fleshy 

 organ (&), which may be presumed to answer the purpose of an 

 intromittent apparatus. 



The second portion of the testis appears to consist of globular 

 bodies having no excretory duct whatever ; and it is not impossible 

 that this is an organ analogous to the testis of the Lamprey, and 

 that its secretion escapes into the abdominal cavity, to be ex- 

 pelled through two orifices (s, s) situated on each side of the anus, 

 whereby a free communication exists between the interior of the 

 peritoneal sac and the external surface of the body. 



(584.) In these highly organized genera impregnation takes 

 place internally, and the male is furnished with two strong prehen- 

 sile organs called claspers (/), by means of which he seizes and 

 securely holds the female during copulation. 



