EEPTILIA. 587 



worthy of notice. The ovaria resemble in their essential structure 

 those of the Lamprey ( 580), only they are much less extensive ; 

 consisting of a few festoons of the highly vascular membrane 

 wherein the ova are secreted, fixed at the pelvic extremity of the 

 abdominal cavity. On each side of the body is a long and very 

 tortuous oviduct, which when unravelled is found to be many times 

 the length of the animal. The fimbriated commencement of this 

 oviduct is firmly bound down by folds of peritoneum in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the pericardium, and, of course, as remote as 

 possible from the ovary ; it therefore becomes a question of no 

 inconsiderable interest to determine the manner in which the ova 

 are conveyed from the ovarian nidus to the orifice of the oviduct : it 

 is obvious that they must first break loose into the abdominal cavity, 

 as we found them to do in the Lamprey and the Eel, and that at 

 length, having made their way into the neighbourhood of the 

 pericardium, they are seized by the patulous extremity of the 

 Fallopian tube, and thus conveyed out of the body. As the ova 

 make their transit through the oviduct, they become imbedded in a 

 tenacious albuminous secretion, "and are at length lodged in a dilated 

 portion of the tube, to which the name of uterus has been very im- 

 properly given, preparatory to their expulsion through the cloaca. 

 After the eggs have been discharged into the surrounding water, the 

 albuminous mass in which they are imbedded swells considerably; 

 and, when the young tadpoles are hatched, this material no doubt 

 serves to nourish them during the earlier period of their existence. 

 (651.) In the Newt (Triton) impregnation takes place internally, 

 although the male is still without any rudiment of an intromittent 

 apparatus, so that we are compelled to believe that in the case of 

 these Amphibia the simple ejection of the male fluid into the water 

 in the vicinity of the female is sufficient to ensure its admission to 

 the ova while still in the oviduct. An improvement is likewise 

 visible in the construction of the internal viscera subservient to 

 generation ; and a vas deferens, quite distinct from the ureter, makes 

 its appearance. In the male Salamander (Triton cristatus) the 

 testis -during the breeding season consists of two pyriform masses, 

 from which the seminal ducts (Jig* 266, c, c) are derived. These 

 soon unite to form a single convoluted tube (d), through which the 

 semen is conveyed into the cloaca. The kidneys (w), and their 

 excretory ducts (i 9 i), are here placed considerably further back ; 

 but the ureters terminate in the cloaca at the same point (m) 

 as the vasa deferentia. Two other large glands (o, o) are appa- 



