Page "Acanthocephala" Paragraph 17

In the female, the ovaries are found, like the testes, as rounded bodies along the ligament.

From these masses of ova dehisce into the body cavity and float in its fluid.

Here the eggs are fertilized and segment so that the young embryos are formed within their mother's body.

The embryos escape into the uterus through the uterine bell, a funnel like opening continuous with the uterus.

At the junction of the bell and the uterus there is a second small opening situated dorsally.

The bell " swallows " the matured embryos and passes them on into the uterus, and from there, out of the body via the oviduct.

Should the bell swallow any of the ova, or even one of the younger embryos, these are passed back into the body cavity through the second, dorsal, opening.