Md. Müller's duct or oviduct; Wd. Wolffian duct or the duct of the kidneys; st. segmental tubes or kidney. The openings of these into the body-cavity are not inserted in the figure; o. ovary.
The urinogenital organs of the adult Amphibians agree in almost all essential particulars with those of Selachians. The ova are carried off in both by a specialized oviduct. The Wolffian duct, or ureter, is found both in Selachians and Amphibians, and the relations of the testis to it are the same in both, the vasa efferentia of the testes having in both the same anatomical peculiarities.
The following points are the main ones in which Selachians and Amphibians differ as to the anatomy of the urinogenital organs; and in all but one of these, the organs of the Amphibian exhibit a less differentiated condition than do those of the Selachian.
(1) A glandular portion (Kopfniere) belonging to the first segmental organ (segmental duct of the kidneys) is found in all embryo Amphibians, but usually disappears, or only leaves a remnant in the adult. It has not yet been found in any Selachian.
(2) The division of the primitive duct of the kidney into the Müllerian duct and the Wolffian duct is not completed so far in Amphibians as Selachians, and in the former the two ducts are confluent at their lower ends.
(3) The permanent kidney exhibits in Amphibians no distinction into two glands (foreshadowing the Wolffian bodies and true kidneys of higher vertebrates), as it does in the Selachians.
(4) The Müllerian duct persists in its entirety in male Amphibians, but only its upper end remains in male Selachians.
(5) The openings of the segmental tubes into the body-cavity correspond in number with the vertebral segments in most Selachians, but are far more numerous than these in Amphibians. This is the chief point in which the Amphibian kidney is more differentiated than the Selachian.
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The modifications in development which the urinogenital system has suffered in higher vertebrates (Sauropsida and Mammalia) are very considerable; nevertheless it appears to me to be possible with fair certainty to trace out the relationship of its various parts in them to those found in the Ichthyopsida. The development of urinogenital organs has been far more fully worked out for the bird than for any other member of the amniotic vertebrates; but, as far as we know, there are no essential variations except in the later periods of development throughout the division. These later variations, concerning for the most part the external apertures of the various ducts, are so well known and have been so fully described as to require no notice here. The development of these parts in the bird will therefore serve as the most convenient basis for comparison.