48 



INTERNAL SECRETIONS OF THE OVARY 



vaginal mucosa undergoes growth and becomes many layers 

 thick. The subsequent degeneration of this growth takes the 

 form of keratinization of the cells, which are subsequently 

 sloughed off into the lumen and can be collected for examination. 

 This stage is followed by the infiltration of vast numbers of 





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kiwi's; .. 





Fig. 22. — Uterus of Mouse during CEstrus, showing 

 distension of lumen. 



leucocytes from the vaginal stroma. The vaginal contents, 

 therefore, show typical cyclic changes, which for the mouse 

 may be summarized as follows : 



Dicestrus. Epithelial cells, largely nucleated, and leucocytes 

 constitute most of the vaginal smear during this stage. The 

 smear tends to be fairly fluid in the unmated animal. 



Prooestrus. During this stage the leucocytes disappear 

 altogether from the vaginal contents and the smear is made up 

 entirely of lightly staining nucleated epithelial cells. The 



