168 



THE COCKROACH : 



of each side together into a spindle-shaped bundle. Each tube 

 is about '4 in. long, and has a beaded appearance, owing to the 

 eggs which distend its elastic wall. It gradually tapers in 

 front ; then suddenly narrows to a very small diameter ; and 

 lastly, joins with the extremities of the other tubes to form a 

 slender solid filament, which passes towards the heart, and 

 becomes lost in the fat-body. The wall of an ovarian tube 

 consists of a transparent elastic membrane, lined by epithelium, 

 and invested externally by a peritoneal layer of connective 

 tissue. 



Fig. 94. Female Reproductive Organs. Od, oviduct ; CG, colleterial gland. X 14. 



The epithelium of an ovarian tube presents some remarkable 

 peculiarities which disguise its true character. High up in the 

 tube, the narrow lumen is occupied by a clear protoplasm, in 

 which nuclei, but no cell walls, can be discerned. Where the 

 tube suddenly widens, large rounded and nucleated masses of 



* 



protoplasm appear, interspersed with nuclei entangled in a 



