FATE OF GERMINAL EPITHELIUM. 135 



elements are eliminated through the vas a number of animals 

 were used in which both testes were elevated to the abdomen, 

 and the vas deferens of one ligated in order to make certain the 

 confinement of all testicular material to the organ in question. 

 The degeneration of this vas-ligated, abdominally-retained testis 

 was compared in its progressive stages with a similarly confined 

 though unligated testis of the opposite side, and with testes with 

 similar periods of retention in other animals. Macroscopically 

 the two testes, one with ligated vas and the other with non-ligated 

 vas when compared after any length of retention were entirely 

 similar; one is unable to note difference in size or in vascularity. 

 Microscopically also the two are similar. Degeneration begins 

 as early in the testis with non-ligated vas as in the one with 

 Tgated vas, and the tubules of each are cleared of germinal 

 epithelium in approximately the same time. So far as the 

 seminiferous tubule degeneration is concerned, therefore, ligation 

 of the vas deferens of an abdominally retained testis is without 

 effect. The significance of this added ligation of the vas is 

 demonstrated in the following section where the contents of the 

 epididymis are considered. I had found that some of the 

 degenerating cells, and some cells apparently not so degenerate 

 were transported to the epididymis. Are any of these cells 

 eliminated from the testis through the vas deferens, or do they 

 go into solution in the epididymis and pass out entirely in the 

 blood stream? Comparison of epididymal contents in testes 

 of equal retention where one vas is open and one closed should 

 give us an answer to this problem. 



B. THE DEGENERATIVE PROCESS IN RELATION TO THE 

 CONTENTS OF THE EPIDIDYMIS. 



The epididymis forms a cap-like extension on the posterior 

 pole of the -testis, and is somewhat conical in contour, with the 

 base adjacent to the body of the testis. Examined macro- 

 scopically in a normal pig it is seen to consist of tubules of 

 varying size, largest at the apex and smallest at the base, and 

 covered with a transparent membrane, the tunica vaginalis, 

 through which the tubules appear as small while cords. The 

 larger tubules at the apex constitute the ampullae of the ductuli 



