
phospholipids of the sexual segment of the kidney of the
indian house lizard, hemidactylus
flaviviridis ruppell
the indian house lizard, hemidactylus flaviviridis breeds seas-
onally.  in a sexually mature male lizard, from october to
may of the following year, the secondary and tertiary collecting
tubules of the kidney are hypertrophied forming the sexual seg-
ment.  the development of the sexual segment is synchronous with
the testicular cycle and maximum development occurs during the
period when the testes are spermatogenically active.  the sex-
ual segment is not developed in the females in any season of the
year; it is completely regressed in males during sexual quiescence
(june and july).  injection of 4.0 mg of testosterone propionate
over two weeks stimulated the regressed sexual segment to hyper-
trophy in males during quiescence and also in females.  the
apical portions of the cells of the sexual segment are loaded
with granular secretions which are stained with baker's acid hae-
matein and phosphomolybdic acid-stannous chloride, indicating the
presence of choline - containing phospholipids.  the composi-
tion of the phospholipids of the sexual segment, which is a unique
feature of the lizards and snakes, is unknown.  this preliminary
communication describes the isolation and quantitative estimation
of phospholipids present in the sexual segment of the indian house
lizard, hemidactylus flaviviridis ruppell.
