404 



DISCOVERY REPORTS 



Murie (1873) in Globicephala melaena found that the broad ligament and the fimbriae 

 form "a delicate arched covering or pavilion which overarches the ovary". Turner 

 (1870 b), describing the conditions in Ora'mts, wrote: " Immediately on the uterine side 

 of this mouth" (of the Fallopian tube) "was an elongated deep pouch-like recess 

 formed by a folding on that part of the broad ligament which extended between the 

 Fallopian tube and the root of the ovary ". A comparable deepening of the ligamentum 

 latum occurs in man and the Ruminants, and there is a similar enlargement of the tuba in 

 the camel and in the swine. In the latter, however, the ovary is quite hidden in an egg sac. 



In Balaenoptera the ovary lies free upon the ligamentum latum. The oviduct or 

 Fallopian tube in the 2-1 m. foetus was a coiled tube o-6 cm. in diameter (Fig. 13 c), 

 involved in the attachments of the ligamentum to the ovary. It exhibited four successive 

 U-shaped bends before joining the uterus. From the ostium abdominale, which looked 

 backwards, the oviduct ran forwards for a very short distance and then turned ventrally 

 back upon itself, forming an elbow the apex of which looked ventrally and rostrally 

 (Fig. 14). The middle part of the course of the Fallopian 

 tube was parallel with the long axis of the ovary and 

 measured 3-5 cm. in a straight line. The duct takes three 

 successive U-shaped bends in this region, an anterior 

 and a posterior one with dorsally directed apices, and 

 a middle one with a ventrally directed apex. The third Fi S- r 4- Diagram to show the course 



r , , . , . , /T ->. , . of the Fallopian tube or oviduct in 



part of the tube is nearly straight (Fig. 14), turning {he pin ^ (Left } 

 slightly outwards and finally mesally to join the uterus. 



The ovarian funnel or ostium abdominale (Fig. 13 b) is wide and funnel-shaped and 

 is provided with simple processes (fimbriae) covered with the same ciliated epithelium 

 as that which lines the oviduct. Weber (1886) and Daudt deny the presence of fimbriae. 

 Daudt (p. 300) wrote: "the 

 ostium abdominale... has a per- 

 fectly even outer edge". Scott 

 and Parker (1889), however, found 

 that the Fallopian tube of Ziphius 

 "opens by the usual delicate and 

 fimbriated extremity into a deep 

 pouch of peritoneum". Murie 

 also mentions fimbriae in Globice- 

 phala. In Orcella Anderson (1878) 

 described the Fallopian tubes as 

 lined with "fine lamellar folds of 

 different depths 



prolonged outwards on to the pa 

 vilion in a radiate manner". 



The anterior edge of the ovarian funnel in B. physalus is drawn out into a thin fold of 

 ligament (Fig. 13/), along which a line of diminishing fimbriae extends on to the 





mm 



"mm. 





Fig. 15. Transverse section of the oviduct or Fallopian tube in 



the laminae are a 2-1 m - Fin whale foetus. 



a. Muscle layer of ligamentum latum. b. Oviduct. 



c . Circular muscles of the oviduct. 



