KUNGL. SV. VET. AKADBMIBNS HANDLINGAE. BAND 49. N:0 7. 



21 



membranes which stand in connection with the cotyledons there as Well. The latter 

 are almost as numerous as in the cornu with the foetus. They are arranged in four 

 rows consisting of resp. 12, 10, 9 and 11 cotyledons. 



To obtain a review of our present knowledge about the structure of the uterus 

 of the Gavicornia as far as the number and arrangement of the cotyledons are con- 

 cerned the accompanying table has been prepared from the literature and these in- 

 visstigations. 



If the domesticated animals are excepted, only a small number of specimens 

 have been examined with regard to the present question, in most cases only single 

 individuals of each species. It is therefore, of course, not possible to draw any 

 general conclusions from so few facts, except that Garrod's statement about the 

 Gavicornia being » Polycotyledonalia^ is not supported. The number of cotyledons 

 varies very considerably within the group from a total number of about 140 in the 

 White-tailed Gnu to only 23 in the Suni or Zanzibar Antelope. The total number 

 of cotyledons does not stand in any direct relation to the size of the aninial. The 

 small Dik-dik has, for instance, a greater number, not only than the Duikers {Gepha^ 

 tophus ogilbyi and G. harveyi henice), but also than the Reedbuck and the Impala; 

 and the Grant's Gazelle has more than the Eland. But on the other hand the largest 

 antelopes have, as far as is known, as a rule, a at least comparatively large number 

 (conf. Eland and Gnu) of cotyledons. 



