$ 69. 
THE ACALEPHAE. 71 
§ 69. 
The position of the sexual organs varies in the different orders, in the 
following manner : 
1. With the Ctenophora, which are hermaphrodites, they are situated 
along the sides, under the form of elongated utricles, the testicles being 
on one side and the ovaries on the other. They have a nodulated appear- 
ance, and from the lower part of each passes off an excretory duct, which 
runs toward the mouth, but the terminal opening of which has not yet been 
‘well made out.® 
2. With many Discophora, these organs are arranged like rays, passing 
from the centre to the border of the disc. In Oceania, Cytaeis, Geryonia 
and Thaumantias, the four saccular ovaries or testicles form at the centre 
of the disc a cross, which is traversed by four aquiferous canals. Their 
excretory ducts pass towards the base of the stomach, but their terminal 
openings are not distinct.” In the disc of Aeguorea violacea, seventy-four 
ray-like bands are spread out, and the free plicated borders of these hang 
beneath the inferior surface of the disc, thus permitting the free escape of 
the eggs and sperm into the water. ; 
, 8. Another group of the Discophora have at the base of their tentacles 
four large openings, which lead into as many cavities in the disc. At the 
base of. these cavities, which formerly were regarded as respiratory organs, 
the genital organs are situated in the form of plicated bands. These as four 
bands (testicles or ovaries) are bent either into an angle or the arc of a cir- 
cle, forming sometimes a star with four rays, and sometimes a four-lobed 
rosette.” If these cavities increase in number, the genital. organs increase 
in the same proportion.© The border of these organs is generally pro- 
vided with numerous tentacles which project into the cavity. In the riband- 
like testicles numerous small sacs are observed; each one of these opens 
separately into the genital cavity, while the eggs, on the contrary, are sep- 
arated from the similarly-formed ovary only by a gradual constriction of 
the latter. | 
4, With the Siphonophora, all the relations of these genital organs still 
require much investigation. With the Diphyidae, they consist of sacs 
communicatiug with the general cavity of the body.™ During the epoch 
1 Will, Horae tergest. p. 88, Taf. I. fig. 22, 23. 
cit. Taf. VII.; and Wagner, Icon. zoot. Tab. 
2 Wagner, Icones. zoot. Tab. XX XIII. fig. 26, 
a.a.; Will, loc. cit. Taf. II. fig. 5; 7, 8, 14, 165 
Blainville, Manuel d’Actinol. 1834, °° “XVII. 
fig. 3; and Sars, Beskrivelser loc. cit. #1. y. ug. 
12, 13. 
3 Will, loc. cit. p. 71. 
4 Milne Edwards, Ann. d. Sc. Nat. XVI. p. 198, 
Pi. I. fig. 1, a. b. : 
5 Gaede, Beitrige loc. cit. Taf. I. fig. 1, c. (Me- 
dusa); and Lesson in Duperrey, Voyage loc. cit. 
No. 12, 18 (Chrysaora). 
6 Rhizostomum. 
7 Chrysaora, Medusa, Pelagia and Aurelia. 
See Ehrenberg, Abhandl. d. Berl. Akad. 1836, 
Taf. I. fig. 1; Wagner, Icon. zoot. Tab. XX XIII. 
fig. 13 and Branat, Mém. de Acad. de St. Peters- 
burg, IV. Pl. IX. X. With the male and the female 
Cephea, I have found the testicles and the ovaries 
disposed exactly as with the Medus° 
8 In Cassiopea, these qrgans are wgnt in number. 
+ 9 Medusa and Pelag 2; see Ehrenberg, loc. 
XXXIII. fig. 13. 
10 Siebold, Beitrage loc. cit. Taf. I. fig. 20, 23 ; 
and Kélliker, Beitrage loc. cit. p. 40. 
In Diphyes and Ersaea, a sac filled with cells 
opens into the general cavity of the body, and 
communicates beside with the stomachs and respi- 
ratory cavities. Will (Horae tergest. p. 78, 81, 
Taf. Il. fig. 23, c.) regards this sac as a sexual 
organ; and Meyen (Nov. Act. physico-med. XVI. 
Suppl. 1, 1834, p. 214, Tab. XXXVI. fig. 2, h. and 
fig. 6, 7) asserts to have seen eggs in it. Accord- 
ing to Philippi (Miiller’s Arch. 1843, p. 63, Taf. 
V. fig. 10, a. b.), the grape-like clustered genital 
organs, with Physophora, are situated between the 
prehensile organs ; the smallest containing in each 
lobule six to ten eggs, and the largest a granular 
liquid (Sperm ?). 
Hollard (Ann. d. Sc. Nat. TI. 1844 » 251 Pl. 
TV. bis. fig. 33, 84) has found botryo.ua, masses of 
ovaries at the base of the tubuliform tentacles 
(stomachs). a3 0. cit. p. 37, Pl. V.) has also 
