342 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



XXV. On the Development of the Oviduct in Teleosteans. By 

 J. T. Cunningham, Esq., B.A., F.R.S.E. 



(Read 20th April 1887.) 



In Balfour's "Comparative Embryology" (vol. ii., 1881 

 p. 605), the question of the morphological nature of the 

 genital ducts in Teleostei was left undecided, but it was 

 argued that the fact that the Mtillerian ducts of the Teleostean 

 Ganoid Lepidosteus attach themselves to the generative 

 organs, and thus acquire a resemblance to the generative 

 ducts of Teleostei, afforded a powerful support of the view 

 that the generative ducts of both sexes in the Teleostei were 

 modified Miillerian ducts. Subsequent inquiries showed, 

 however, that the Mtillerian ducts did not in Lepidosteus 

 attach themselves to the generative organs, and no connection 

 can be traced between Mtillerian ducts and generative organs 

 in the development of Teleosteans. An attempt to follow out 

 the development of the Teleostean oviduct was made by a 

 Belgian embryologist in 1881.^ He was successful in finding 

 indications of the origin of the duct in only one species— 

 Belone acus. He found in embryos of this species 54 mm. 

 long, that the genital ridge projected far into the body cavity, 

 its base of attachment being narrow, so that in transverse 

 section it was pear-shaped. Germinal epithelium was con- 

 fined to a line running aloug the outer side of the ridge near 

 the base of attachment, the rest of the organ being covered 

 with a flat epithelium. Along the region of the germinal 

 epithelium appeared a furrow, which was soon transformed into 

 a tube by the coalescence of its edges. The tube was already 

 formed in the posterior part of the organ when the open 

 furrow existed in the anterior part. Further development 

 was not followed, but MacLeod had no doubt that the tube 

 described became the cavity of the adult ovary. The con- 

 nection of the tube with the exterior MacLeod supposes to be 

 brought about by the coalescence of the ovarian tube with the 

 two prolongations of the peritoneal cavity, which pass back 



1 Jules MacLeod, " Rech. sur I'AiJpareil Reproducteur Femelle des Teleos- 

 teens," Arch, de Biol., torn, ii., 1881, 



