Von Wittich himself says1 “they (the fat-bodies) have not at any time any connection with the Wolffian bodies, nor with the kidneys or their ducts.” And again, “the genital organs become constricted into an anterior and a posterior part, of which the anterior becomes the fat-body, and the posterior the genital organ.”
This investigation, conducted in the biological laboratories of Owens College, was begun with the intention of ascertaining if these views of von Wittich were correct. But its progress showed that the mode of development of the fat-bodies is very different from what von Wittich thought, and that the changes which take place are of a very interesting nature.
On dissecting a tailed Frog, as represented in fig. 1, the fatbodies were seen already beginning to take on the lobose form which characterises them later on, and having in this case a peculiar resemblance to the fingers of...
