REPRODUCTION — SPERMATOPHORE AND OVUM. 
37 G 
The Spermatopiiore (cnrepixa, seed; to bear) or Capreolus, is 
a variously shaped elongate body, composed of the hardened secre- 
tions of the walls of the tlagelliiin, the epiphallns or the widened part 
of the vas deferens. It is usually a Hexible but firm husk, which 
becomes brittle on exposure, usually closed at one end and open at the 
other, and containing zoosperms. The Spermatophore owes the 
I k;. 099. ITg. 700. Fig. 701. 
Fig. — Spermalophore of Helix virgata Da Costa, X 4 . 
Fig. 700. — Spcrmalopliore of .-1 tnalia Sinverbyi (F< 1 t.), X G, in situ, as secreted by the epiphallus. 
Fig. 701.— Spermatophore Autalia senverbyi (Fcr.), x G, in situ, after transference to sperma- 
theca of partner. 
remarkable shaiies and complicated denticulations it assumes in the 
different species to the character of the cavity in which it is formed or 
moulded. Its function is to more perfectly ensure the transfer of the 
sjiermatozoa from one individual to the spermatheca of another during 
the process of pairing. 
The Ovum {ovain, an egg) may be regarded as a modified epithelial 
cell, corresponding not with the spermatozoon but with the mother 
s])erm-cell, the division of the nucleus of the ovum and the expulsion 
of the p(dar globules being paralleled by the repeated division under- 
gone by the sperm cells. The ovum encloses within the vitelline 
mendirane a clear nuclear fluid or nucleoplasm with minute nucleoli 
and a complex system of filiform coils or loops which contain the germ 
plasma of AVeissmann ; it is externally enveloped by an albuminous 
layer and surrounded by an excessively thin, shining and transparent 
membrane or chorion, which may ac(iuire opacity and hardness from 
the gradual deposition npoii its inner surface of large rhomboidal 
crystals of carbonate of lime, forming an exipiisite microscopic object ; 
the lime deposit may, however, be confusedly granular, wdiile, in cer- 
tain terrestrial S2)ecies, the external envelope may be calcareous or, as 
in the Lhnnwidtu and Succiiiew, the egg membrane may be soft and 
