22 
Fridtjof Nansen. 
[No. 7. 
Upon a glance at the foregoing series, it becomes evident that no 
constant relation, between the extension of the male portion and that 
of the female portion of the reproductive organ, can be established. 
In the hermaphrodite-male N0.2, for instance, the male portion is 
about the same length as the female portion, whilst in No.i it 
is about half the length only; and in the larger specimens — the 
females — it may be seen that the posterior, sterile, portion is, 
generally, even less than the half of the rest of the reproductive 
organ. 
As a rule, it may, however, be said, that the proportion between 
the male portion and the female portion of the reproductive organ 
is, generally, in the hermaphrodite-males, much about the same as 
it is in No.i or in No. 3; (i. e. the male portion is about, or 
somewhat more than, one third of the reproductive organ) whilst 
in the females, the posterior, sterile, (male) portion of the organ is 
much less, in proportion to the anterior ovarian portion; indeed, it 
seems as if the anterior ovarial portion of the reproductive organ 
is, to some extent, developed at the expense of the posterior testi- 
cular portion, the latter being gradualiy decreased, whilst the 
former is increased. 
As to the length of the animals when the function of the 
testes ceases and the development of the ova begins, it seems to 
be the rule that they, generally, change sex when they have reached 
a body-length of about 32 or 33 ctm. (cf. N0.4 & N0.6); how 
old they are at this period, it is at present impossible to decide. 
As regards the nature of the very few true males which I 
have recognized, I think it very probable that it is quite the same 
as that of the hermaphrodites, i. e. they are only transformed 
hermaphrodites. Indeed, I have found transition-stages between true 
males and common hermaphrodites, cf. No. 5 in the series given 
above. 
A feature which is rather striking, on examination of the 
reproductive organ of the true males, is that the posterior portion 
is very prominent, similar to what it is in hermaphrodite males; 
whilst the anterior portion is but slightly developed, and does not, 
generally, contain ripe spermatozoa, (cf. fig. 8). At the first glance, 
it resembles very much the undeveloped anterior portion of the 
reproductive organ of a hermaphrodite male. The proportion, 
between the posterior prominent portion of the male organ (of the 
true male) and the anterior less developed portion, is also about 
the same as between the male and female portions of the repro- 
