of Edinburgh^ Session 1865 - 66 . 659 
cavity, lying closely along the under surface of the vertebral 
column. 
Like the rest of the abdominal organs in general, the kidneys 
are very slender and elongated ; each consists of a number of little 
lobules, which lie in the concavities on the under surfaces of the 
vertebral bodies. The excretory duct or ureter lies along the outer 
border of the organ, and passes straight backwards to unite with 
the genital duct, and, with its fellow of the opposite side, at the 
urogenital pore. The ovaries and oviducts correspond exactly with 
Muller’s description of these organs in Folypterus (Trans. Berlin 
Acad. 1844). Each ovary is in the form of a flattened plate, sus- 
pended in front of the posterior part of the kidney by a mesentery, 
is solid, and consists of a stroma imbedding ova of all sizes, up to 
Jjth of an inch in diameter. The oviduct, proceeding forwards 
from the urogenital pore as a pretty wide tube, crosses beneath the 
ovarian mesentery, and opens into the peritoneal cavity, on the 
outer side of the gland, and closely above its lower extremity. The 
ovaries are not symmetrical in position, one being in advance of 
the other, so that also one oviduct is longer. In a female measur- 
ing 8fths inches, the right ovary was 1^ inch in length, its anterior 
extremity being placed 4fths inches from the top of the snout, and 
the length of the oviduct Ifths inch, while the left measured Ifths 
inch, was situated at its anterior extremity 5|ths inches from the 
tip of the snout, and having a duct of 1 y\ths inch. The testes are 
very minute, and situated very far forwards, each being a small 
oval body length, in a male of 10 inches ; and in the 
same specimen the right one was situated 2^, and the left 2b|-ths 
inches back from the tip of the snout. A very minute duct runs 
backwards parallel with and close to the ureter, which it joins near 
the urogenital pore. 
On opening a number of specimens, it was found that all those 
with a large anal fin were males, while those in which that organ was 
small were females. The females are, however, to be distinguished 
from the males by another character, namely, the much larger size of 
the urogenital pore, which is situated immediately behind the anus. 
4. Professor Archer exhibited Jones Levick’s Coal-Cutting 
Machine, and Mr David Price’s Experiments on the Eestoration of 
Oil Paintings. 
