502 DR DAVY’S FRAGMENTARY NOTES ON THE 
On the 15th of May another fish was obtained, of about a foot long. An egg 
was found in each of its oviducts, enclosed in a firm, hard shell,—so hard as not 
to be easily cut. The ovum was of a brownish hue, and was surrounded by a 
glairy white. No traces of development could be detected in it. 
On the 28th of August two ova, each in its shell, were got from the market, 
said to have been extracted from the left oviduct of a catfish. Each shell was 
about two inches long, and about half an inch wide, tough, and yet transparent, 
pointed at its extremities, from both of which a strong fibre proceeded. The 
fibres, drawn straight—that from one end measured about a foot in length, that 
from the other about half afoot. The largest was in part divided into several 
delicate filaments.* The contained ovum, seen through the transparent shell, 
was situated midway. In one shell that was opened, a yellow yolk was found in 
a small quantity of colourless, transparent, and “very viscid white.” This 
“white” did not mix readily with water, and was not coagulated by nitric acid. 
On the 5th September two fish were obtained, both of them gravid. The con- 
dition of the generative organs of each was similar. In each oviduct an egg was 
found, surrounded by white, in a semi-transparent shell. One was immersed in 
boiling water. The yolk became hard after having been boiled about two 
minutes; the white did not coagulate, nor undergo any apparent change,—it 
remained transparent and viscid. On each side, above that part of the oviduct 
holding the egg, and about an equal distance from the infundibulum, was a 
glandular body surrounding the tube. The infundibulum was large, and very 
vascular. The ovaries, joined together, lay in the direction of the spine, about 
half-way between the oviducts, and about the same distance from the infundi- 
bulum. In them was a cluster of ova of different sizes, connected by a loose 
cellular tissue. The smallest of the cluster were about the size of mustard seed, 
hard, and opaque; the largest were nearly the size of the mature yolk, but 
spherical in form. Between the largest and the smallest there were many of 
intermediate grades. The largest were situated lowest, and consequently most 
distant from the infundibulum.t+ 
8. Of the Scyllium Melanostomum.—Of this fish I have notes of two, both pro- 
cured at Constantinople,—a male and a female,—and both in the same month, 
February. 
The male was about two feet long, and slender. Its testes were proportionally 
large,—one on each side of the spine, not distinctly divided throughout.t They 
were of a light fawn colour and soft consistence, more resembling the testes of the 
osseous fishes than those of the majority of the cartilaginous kind. They tapered 
towards the cloaca, where it may be supposed their ducts terminated. The 
whole seemed homogeneous. Under the microscope, their soft substance seemed 
* See Plate XXIL., fig. 10. t See Plate XXII, fig. 11. t See Plate XXII, fig. 12. 

