ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 



11 



Absorption of Food 



Fig. 14. — Form of table for record of Exercise 10. 



D. The Excretory and Reproductive Systems 

 (Urino-genital System) 



Exercise 11. — The Female Urino-genital System. 



(a) The ovaries, which are the reproductive organs or gonads of 

 the female, have been recognized and probably removed. The mesen- 

 tery, or mesovarium, of each can possibly still be seen. The two 

 oviducts are very long and coiled. They do not connect with the 

 ovaries, but the funnel-shaped anterior end of each opens into the 

 body cavity. To find the anterior ends of the oviducts it is necessary 

 to lift the lungs and examine the extreme anterior wall of the ccelom. 

 Observe the ovaries and anterior end of the oviducts in a demonstra- 

 tion of a freshly killed specimen. The eggs, or female germ cells, 

 break from the surfaces of the ovaries and are free within the body 

 cavity until they pass into the open ends of the oviducts. Within the 

 oviducts each egg is covered with a gelatinous substance which swells 

 upon contact with the water and forms the conspicuous jelly envelopes 

 after the eggs have reached the outside by way of the cloaca and anus. 

 At its posterior end each oviduct expands to form a thin-walled por- 

 tion in which the eggs accumulate just before being laid. This ex- 

 panded portion of each oviduct is connected to the body wall, the large 

 intestine, and the other oviduct by mesenteries which must be dis- 

 sected away to show the real size and shape of this part of the oviduct. 

 The oviducts open separately on the dorsal wall of the cloaca, oppo- 

 site the opening of the urinary bladder. 



