On Double or Vertical Hermaphrodism in a Cod Fish. 301 



about 2 J inches across the artificially expanded lobes. These 

 lobular masses communicated on all sides with the oviduct 

 which passed through them, by numerous small openings 

 of tubes, apparently extending outwards into the lobes of 

 the milt. On examining with a microscope of low power 

 the mass of the roe, numerous small but apparently perfect 

 ova were distinctly visible ; and on examining the milt 

 with a power of 480 diameters, distinct rounded or oval- 

 shaped bodies of small size were seen in great numbers, but 

 showing no appearance of tails, or cells. 



This specimen is therefore an instance of what has been 

 designated true hermaphrodism, certain of the male and 

 female organs being blended together in the same individual. 

 Only in it the generative organs on one side of the body, 

 the left, are apparently perfectly female ; and on the other 

 they appear to be combined female and male. It may, 

 therefore, be described as an instance of complex, double, or 

 vertical hermaphrodism, as it has been designated. 



Dr Smith referred for further information on the general 

 subject to the learned and elaborate paper on Hermaphro- 

 dism in all its varieties, by Professor J. Y. Simpson, in 

 " Todd's Cyclopaedia of Anatomy," 1839, vol. ii. 



Professor Simpson says : — " Various instances, however, 

 are on record of fishes known to be normally bisexual, 

 presenting from abnormal development a lateral hermaphro- 

 dictic structure, or a roe on one side and a milt on the other. 

 Such a hermaphrodictic malformation has been met with in 

 the genera Salmo, Gadus, and Cyprinus, and in the Merlangus 

 vulgaris, Acipenser huso, and Esox lucius." 



The references given to these recorded instances of her- 

 maphrodism in fish, strange to say, are apparently all to 

 various foreign journals. 



This instance differed, however, from any of the cases 

 here referred to, and was a distinct instance of complex or 

 vertical hermaphrodism, and Dr Smith had not been able 

 to find any example of this hermaphrodism in the cod fish, 

 recorded in any British periodical or publication. 



He had, therefore, much pleasure in presenting this 

 apparently rare specimen to the Anatomical Museum of the 



