HERMAPHRODITE GENITALIA OP THE CODFISH. 543 



arily conceded, one or two others remaiaing doubtful*. An 

 hermaphroditic condition of the genital glands has been claimed 

 for isolated members of other classes of Vertebrates. It is well 

 known to occasionally manifest itself in the Araniotaf; it is 

 stated to be the constant condition for a solitary Batrachian ; 

 Pallas and Benecke have recorded it for AclpenserX, and Semper 

 for the Selachii§. Again, Langerhans has detected the tails 

 of spermatozoa among young ovarian ova of AmpTiioxus \\ ; and 

 Cunningham IT and Nansen** have described what must be 

 admitted to be, at least, a modified form of hermaphroditism in 

 the Myxinoids. 



Collation of the literature of this subject brings into promin- 

 ence two striking facts, viz. : — a. That the frequency of occur- 

 rence of hermaphrodite genital glands in the Teleostei is common 

 and widespread, as compared with other orders and suborders of 

 Yertebrata ; /3. that whereas in the last-named (setting aside the 

 Marsipobranchii, in which the conditions are somewhat special, and 

 the Bidder's organ of the Anura, as to the real nature of which 

 we are still in doubt ft) the dominant condition is that of replace- 

 ment of one of the two testes in an ovary, or vice versa, in the 

 Teleostei it is that of the differentiation of the same gland into 

 organically continuous ovary and testis. Notwithstanding the 

 considerable attention which this subject has received, these facts 

 have never before been sufficiently emphasized ; and it remains 

 now to follow them to their logical issue, and to enquire 

 w^hether they may not have a deep significance. What, briefly, 

 is the meaning of the repeated reversion of the genital gland to 

 an organically continuous hermaphroditic type, which well nigh 

 characterizes the Teleostei among Vertebrates ? 



Max "Weber has proposed to distinguish between what he 

 terms "true hermaphroditism" (such, for example, as that 

 exemplified in the Codfish figured by him, in which testis and 



* For detailed list see Max Weber, he. cit. pp. 36, 37. 



1- Cf. Sir Jam^s Simpsoii's article " Hermaphroditism," in Todd's ' Ency- 

 dopd. of Anat. and Phys.' vol. ii. p. 684. 

 X Cf. Max Weber, he. cit. pp. 37-40. 



§ Cf. Van Wijhe, Archiv f. mikr. Anat. Bd. xxxiii. p. 504 (1889). 

 II Ibid. Bd. xii. 1876, p. 326. 

 ^ Journ. Micr. Sci. n. s. vol. xxvii. p. 49 (1887). 

 ** Aarsber. Bergens Mus. 1887, op. vii. 

 ti- Cf Kuappe, Morpii. Jahrb. Bd. i. p. 489 (188ti)- 



