406 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



suspected, sections of the testes containing tliem present 

 a deceptive and puzzling appearance. 



The Female Organs — The female organs (Plate VI., 

 fig. 53) are extremely simple, and in their external form 

 they very closely resemble those of the male. They 

 consist of a pair of ovaries, which have similar relations 

 to the alimentary canal as the testes (Plate IV., fig. 35). 

 Each ovary is in the form of a simple tube, tapering 

 anteriorly into a delicate terminal filament (t. /.). This 

 filament, as in the male, functions as a suspensory 

 ligament which serves to retain the ovary in position, and 

 is attached to the fat-body near to the median dorsal line 

 in the mesothoracic segment. The ovaries increase in 

 calibre as they are followed posteriorly, and in the fourth 

 abdominal segment each gives off a short oviduct (fig. 35). 

 The two oviducts quickly unite with one another and form 

 a median canal, which may be termed the vagina (vag.). 

 The vagina opens to the exterior by a median aperture 

 situated near to the posterior margin of the fifth 

 abdominal segment. From the ventral wall of the vagina 

 there arises a forwardly-directed flattened diverticulum 

 (div.). The homology of this structure is very doubtful, 

 and Fernald has suggested that it may be a receptaculum 

 seminis, but in no instance has it been possible to detect 

 any traces of spermatozoa in its cavity. 



The wall of the ovary consists of a thin cellular layer 

 containing scattered flattened nuclei, but does not show 

 any cell boundaries (fig. 55). On the outside the ovarian 

 wall is limited by a coat of connective tissue (t. p.). At 

 the apex of the gland the wall becomes prolonged 

 forwards as the terminal filament, which becomes reduced 

 near its extremity to only a strand of connective tissue. 



The oviducts are outward prolongations of the ovarian 

 walls, and have the same essential structure as the latter. 



