ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
275 
Persistent Oviducts and Abnormal Testes in a Male Frog. — 
D. R. Bhattacharya ( Journ . Asiat. Soc. Bengal , 1920, 16, 293-6). 
In a male specimen of Rana tigrina were found a pair of persistent 
oviducts (though no ovaries), and a pair of testes of abnormally unequal 
size. The right testis was much smaller and the left testis much bigger 
than the normal, the former presumably arrested during growth. The 
oviduct on the right side was well developed, and that of the left small 
and degenerate, and not even continuous throughout Its whole length. 
B. L. B. 
Effects of Fat Excess on Tadpoles. — R. McCarrison ( Proc . Roy. 
Soc., Series B, 1921, 92, 295-303). An excess of various fats in the 
food causes great retardation in the rate of growth. Iodine counter- 
acted this in the case of some fats. The normal rate of metamorphosis 
was slightly affected by the harder fats, and delayed by the fluid and 
less saturated fats. The delay tended to be compensated for by small 
quantities of iodine in the case of some fats, not in the case of others. 
It seems probable that, in so far as certain fats — butter, lard, oleic acid, 
cocoanut oil, and arachis oil — are concerned, an iodine intake, propor- 
tionate to their intake in the food, is requisite for the maintenance of 
normal metabolism. The influence of cod-liver oil and of linseed oil, 
in further retarding growth in the presence of an amount of iodine that 
is favourable to growth in the case of other fats, is not as yet under- 
stood. J. A. T. 
Sexes in Top-minnow. — S. W. Geiser (Proc. Amer. Soc. Zool. in 
Anat. Record , 1922, 23, 112). In the progeny of Gambusia affinis 
reared in aquaria, with low mortality-rates, the proportions of the sexes 
are about equal. The adult males have a higher death-rate, and the 
inequality observed in natural conditions thus comes about. The 
gonads of the two sexes are at first indistinguishable ; differentiation is 
seen in less than four weeks in the aquarium conditions. The anal fin 
in the male becomes an “ intromittent ” or copulatory organ (gonopod). 
In favourable conditions this is developed within the first three months ; 
but it may be delayed for over a year. The length in both sexes is 
trebled or quadrupled in the first three months. Females born in May 
to June bear their first set of (viviparously produced) young ones when 
eight to ten weeks old. J. A. T. 
Hermaphrodite Amphioxus. — W. Riddell (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., 
1922, 9, 613-7, 6 figs.). Hermaphroditism in Amphioxus has been 
previously noted by Langerhans, Goodrich and Orton. In Riddell’s 
case there were well-marked ova in one or both of the testes in some of 
the cross sections. In another section most of the testis is composed of 
ova in various stages of development. In another there was an 
apparently normal ovary on one side, and on the other a testis .which 
was almost normal, but showed one ovum. So that a series of gradations 
occurred. Some sections showed a mass of ova in the right metapleural 
space. Riddel inclines to regard his case as indicative of protandrous 
hermaphroditism. J. A. T. 
