340 Dr Dal ton jun. on the Proteus anguinus. 



duct in the Proteus, a gland which exists elsewhere only in 

 the oviparous species of the naked Amphibia ; so that the 

 Proteus is probably also oviparous. But nothing more defi- 

 nite has been discovered. One German observer (Von 

 Schreibers) endeavoured to ascertain this point by examin- 

 ing specimens of Proteus, taken from their caverns at every 

 season of the year ; but, according to Herr Fitzinger, he only 

 succeeded in finding the ovaries unusually developed in a few 

 instances. H. Fitzinger himself has met with the ovaries 

 in a state of active development in only one instance ; and 

 up to the present time, according to him, neither ova nor 

 embryos have ever yet been discovered in the oviducts. 



The female generative organs consist of two elongated 

 sacciform ovaries, situated at the posterior part of the abdo- 

 men, directly in front of the kidneys. In the specimen measur- 

 ing 8£ inches total length, in which the generative organs were 

 in a state of quiescence, the right ovary was 0-98 of an inch 

 long, the left somewhat smaller. The cavity of the organs 

 was lined by a mucous membrane, beneath which was to be 

 seen the whitish, globular, nearly transparent ova, varying 

 in diameter from y^th of an inch downward. The oviducts 

 were a pair of slender and perfectly straight tubes, which, 

 commencing by a wide aperture at some distance anterior to 

 the ovaries, and running down on the outer and posterior as- 

 pect of those organs, opened into the cloaca, just above the 

 orifices of the ureters. 



In another specimen, however, obtained at the Vienna 

 Museum, the organs were in a high state of development. 

 The right ovary was 1*75 inches, the left 1*64 inches long ; 

 and they contained, together, 66 roundish opaque ova, of a 

 deep yellow colour, and evidently just ready to be discharged. 

 Their average size was a little less than f th of an inch in di- 

 ameter. The oviducts were much larger than in the other 

 specimen, and exceedingly contorted, so that they must have 

 attained two or three times their ordinary length. None of 

 the ova, however, had yet left the ovaries, so that nothing 

 new could be learned with regard to the question of viviparity. 

 — (American Journal of Science and Art, vol. xv., No. 45, 

 2d Series, p. 387.) 



