Wolfian Bodies

Wolfian Bodies (named after the embryologist K. F. Wolff, 1733–94), the primordial renal organs in the embryo of the higher vertebrates, performing the functions of kidneys till superseded by the true or permanent kidneys. In man they appear towards the end of the first month of foetal life; from the third month they begin to disappear, and at birth hardly any traces are to be seen, but in the male their ducts become the excretory ducts of the testes. In fishes, on the other hand, they remain and are the permanent renal organs.