. Annals of the Carnegie Museum. Carnegie Museum; Carnegie Museum of Natural History; Natural history. 98 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. there are as many as five. In Cnesterodon there are none. In Phal- lotorynus there are three, the first and last are long and needle-like a-nd the central one is expanded or club-shaped at the tip. Just before these there is a single short sta^'. Garman {h, Plate VIII) has figured many of the different species. The muscular mass enveloping the base of the anal is directly attached by a tough ligament to the vertebral Fig. I. Diagrammatic sketch of Pc


. Annals of the Carnegie Museum. Carnegie Museum; Carnegie Museum of Natural History; Natural history. 98 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. there are as many as five. In Cnesterodon there are none. In Phal- lotorynus there are three, the first and last are long and needle-like a-nd the central one is expanded or club-shaped at the tip. Just before these there is a single short sta^'. Garman {h, Plate VIII) has figured many of the different species. The muscular mass enveloping the base of the anal is directly attached by a tough ligament to the vertebral Fig. I. Diagrammatic sketch of Pcecilia vivipara, cf, showing modification of last two precaudal vertebrge to form a support for the intromittent organ, i, intestine; I, liver; t, testicle; abl, air-bladder; ii, ureter; ctr, ends of ribs cut off to show abdominal cavity. For the modified subvertebral processes Philippi {d. 1908) has pro- posed the term ' gottapophysis.' In Pcecilia vivipara (Fig. i) the first •of these processes joins directly with the enlarged first interha?mal. The other interhsemals or radialia, with which the rays of the anal fin are articulated, are sharp and slender, and all, including the first en- larged one, are enclosed in the mass of muscles, which controls the movements of the fin. The forward position of the anal fin in the male causes the crowding of the viscera into the extreme forward end of the body-cavity. In females the development of young within the ovarial sack likewise causes a pushing of the viscera toward the head. In this sex the air bladder is a simple oval sack, but in males the development of the sub- vertebral stays causes a split in the organ, so that posteriorly it is bilobed, with the subvertebral processes occupying a position between the lobes. Breeding Habits. The act of copulation in the viviparous Poeciliids has not often been seen. Agassiz (1853, p. 135) witnessed it in Mollienisia latipimia, and in this manner learned that the two forms, which had prev


Size: 2758px × 906px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky