FEMALE ORGANS OF REPTILES. 



587 



397 



Back view of female organs impregnated ; 

 Zootoca. 



oviducts. The oviduct commences by a simple elongated slit, 

 opening upon the free margin of the 

 mesoary ; the duct soon contracts to 

 almost capillary tenuity, and gradually 

 expands as it approaches the cloaca, 

 contracting again before its termi- 

 nation. 



In the Snapper (Chelydra) the ovi- 

 duct is disposed in short transverse 

 folds, between the layers of a broad 

 duplicature of peritoneum, gradually 

 diminishing in width, and increasing in 

 the thickness of its parietes as it ap- 

 proaches the cloaca. The inner sur- 

 face of the initial part of the duct 

 presents a series of oblique folds, which gradually become more 

 produced and more longitudinal. The oviducts terminate between 

 two diverging folds of the 



398 



lining membrane of the 



o 



cloaca, which folds gradu- 

 ally subside as they con- 

 verge to meet and termi- 



o 



nate in the sinus of the 

 6 glans clitoridis.' In the 

 European Freshwater Tor- 

 toise the inner surface of 

 the initial, narrow, and thiii- 

 walled part of the oviduct, 

 A", p, fig. 398, is disposed 

 in fine longitudinal folds, 

 and is lined by ciliate epi- 

 thelium : beyond these, for 

 a short space, ib. o, the walls 

 of the oviduct are glandu- 

 lar : in the expanded part 

 (containing an egg in the 

 example figured) the rugaa 

 of the lining membrane are 

 feeble and sinuous. Ex- 

 ternal to the mucous mem- 

 brane there is a stratum of 

 muscular fibres, by the con- 

 tractions of which the ovum is propelled along the oviduct: 



Descent of the egg in the oviduct of Emys. One oviduct, 

 the cloaca and parts opening therein, xxxvm. 



