CONCRESCENCE OF FOLLICLES IN HYPOTYPICAL OVARY. 



before it enters the wall of the larger follicle. In this case we 

 might expect to find the smaller egg in the central part of the 

 follicle and the larger one more toward the periphery. Whether 

 also two small to medium follicles of similar size can unite to 

 form one follicle with two eggs, we are unable to determine with 

 certainty. 



Essentially both modes of origin are in all probability based 

 on the same condition, both being due to the same cause, namely, 

 the relative inactivity of the connective tissue in these ovaries. 

 We saw that in this animal the atresia of the follicles does not 

 take its normal course, but that after disintegration of the 

 follicles the connective tissue fails to grow into the cavity and 

 that thus small follicular cysts syrrounded by theca interna are 

 formed. W r e saw furthermore that the fibrous bands separating 

 the various follicles are not so well developed as in the ovaries 

 of other guinea pigs. It is therefore very probable that this 

 deficiency in the connective tissue is at the bottom of this condi- 

 tion. The relative inactivity of the connective tissue, its failure 

 to proliferate and to produce fibrous tissue, accounts for the 

 imperfect atresia of the follicles and the imperfect separation of 

 the follicles, and it is this inactivity of the connective tissue 

 which is responsible for the occurrence of the follicles containing 

 multiple eggs. In the first place, the connective tissue in some 

 cases fails to grow properly between the very young eggs and 

 their granulosa and to separate the two follicles; thus the first 

 mode in the production of follicles with several eggs is brought 

 about. It is due to a pathological persistence of an earlier 

 stage in the development of follicles. And secondly the lack of 

 development of strong fibrous tissue around a number of follicles, 

 together with the pressure existing in the ovary as the result of 

 the growth of young follicles, is responsible for the pushing of 

 small follicles into larger ones. Thus there is no essential dif- 

 ference in the mode of origin of bioval or plurioval follicles at 

 various stages of development. 



The next question concerns the cause of this relative inactivity 

 of the connective tissue. The study of the hypotypical follicles, 

 which we reported in the preceding paper, throws light on this 

 problem. We mentioned there that in cases in which the hypo- 



