DR. A. GUNTHER’S DESCRIPTION OF CERATODUS. 
547 
having a distinct abdominal orifice immediately below the diaphragm. They accom- 
pany the ureters in their posterior course, but are nowhere confluent with them, and 
terminate in a common opening into the cloacal dilatation, immediately in front of the 
uretral orifice. A pair of wide slits behind the vent lead immediately into the peritoneal 
cavity. 
Female Organs (Plate XL1L). 
The sexual organs of the two sides differ from each other in form. The right ovary 
is considerably broader than the left (2| inches across its middle), but extends forwards 
only to the extremity of the lateral lobe of the liver, to which it adheres by a fold of the 
peritoneum enclosing the vena cava. The left ovary extends from one end of the abdo- 
minal cavity to the other, and is only lj inch broad across the middle ; its terminal 
portions are tapering. 
The ovaries (fig. 1) are elongate bands, with an inner and an outer surface, fixed along 
the dorsal edge to each side of the notochord, otherwise free, with a sharp ventral 
margin ; they are separated from each other by the lung and intestine, and nowhere 
confluent. They are not closed sacs, being covered by the peritoneum on their inner 
(intestinal) side only. The outer side is in contact with the walls of the abdomen, and 
crossed by a great number of transverse lamellae, the bearers of the stroma in which the 
ova are developed. These ova are in immense number, and, when ready for exclusion, 
have a diameter of 2-| millims. The stroma of the ovary with mature eggs is of a very 
dark colour, irregularly and finely mottled with black and dark brown. The eggs 
themselves are now brown, and black on that portion of their convexity which is turned 
towards the surface of the ovary. Remains of a former state of development are visible 
on both sides, in the form of a linear tract (<?, c ') commencing at the posterior extremities 
of the ovaries, and running for some distance along the inner side of the oviduct. The 
anterior extremity of the left ovary terminates in a similar appendage (b'), but it is 
broader, band-like, and about 2 inches long; it extends to the abdominal aperture of 
the oviduct, surrounding a part of its circumference, and contains considerable venous 
vessels enveloped by an adipose tissue. 
It is evident that the ova drop into the cavity of the peritoneum ; at first they are 
received into a shallow gutter ( d , d') at the base of the ovary, to commence a very cir- 
cuitous journey before their final expulsion. 
There is, namely, attached to, and along the base of each ovary a thick-walled oviduct 
( 0 , o'), 8 or 9 millims. thick, and still thicker in its posterior portion, but nowhere 
expanded into a sac with thinner walls. It is much convoluted, the convolutions forming 
a thick knotted rope along the whole length of the abdominal cavity ; only posteriorly 
the convolutions are more simple, and finally open into a serpentine course. These 
oviducts lie outside the peritoneal cavity, and therefore are entirely separated from the 
ovaries. Their abdominal aperture (r, r') is a gaping slit, 3 or 4 millims. wide, in the 
foremost portion of the abdominal cavity, immediately below the diaphragm, at a short 
distance from the notochord. Consequently on the right side the liver intervenes 
