TENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 95 
snake-like folds of fat, which had formerly been noticed near the 
ovarium, were nothing else than the spermaries of the eel, and 
that upon the left side of the animal this organ developed into a 
true testicle, while the one upon the right side shrank up and 
became functionless. In the work of Crivelli and Maggi, on 
the other hand, the folds of fat next to the ovary were also con- 
sidered to be the male organs of the eel, while the one on the 
right-hand side of the animal was considered without any doubt 
to be the male reproductive organ. The last-named authorities 
described the spermatozoa which they had seen in this stripe of 
fat upon the right side. Since these stripes of fat were univers- 
ally found in all eels, and always in connection with the former, 
the investigators could come to no other conclusion than that 
the eels were complete hermaphrodites. 
The male organ of the eel, as described by Ercolani, as also by 
Crivelli and Maggi, shows how carefully investigations may be 
expended upon things which are not in the least equivocal, since 
there was not the slightest trace of structure like that of a sper- 
mary. The cells of this body in the lining of the stomach next 
to the ovary are simply fat cells, with all the characteristic pecu- 
liarities, just as they are given in all the manuals of histiology. 
Professor Rauber, of Leipsic has examined these fat cells care- 
fully, and they have also been investigated in many eels by the 
writer, Dr. Jacoby. Never has anything but fat cells and blood 
vessels been found inthem. The so-called spermatozoa, described 
in the work of Maggi and Crivelli, proved to be miscroscopic 
fat particles or crystalline bodies, such as are commonly found 
in fat cells.t+ 
In the meantime, at Trieste, the question concerning the male 
organs of the eel was making a very important advance. Darwin 
had already expressed the opinion that among nearly all fishes 
the female was larger than the male. He states that Dr. Giinther 
had assured him that there was not a single instance among 
fishes in which the male was naturally larger than the female. 
+Ina microscopic investigation of fatty tissues it is very easy for the so-called Brownian 
molecular movements to be mistaken for moving spermatozoa, especially in fishes whose 
spermatozoa, if not very much magnified, shows only the head and appear like little bodies 
globular in form. 
