THE STRUCTURE OF FREE-MARTIN GONADS 89 



by a layer of circular smooth muscle fibers. Similar connections 

 are shown in case H-42, but the number of vasa efferentia tubules 

 is larger (about twenty in transverse section). In neither case 

 can traces of a Wolffian duct connecting with the vasa efferentia 

 be found. These conditions will be understood from a com- 

 parison with the normal relationships of these parts in the ovary 

 and testis. 



Although the rete tubules at the anterior end of a normal 

 foetal ovary (6.3 cm., N 14) may estabUsh connections with the 

 renal corpuscles of the Wolffian body, these connections are not of 

 much significance, owing to the early degeneration of the Wolffian 

 body in the female. However, in the male these connections 

 are permanent, owing to their persistence as the vasa efferentia 

 of the epididymis. The vasa efferentia are connected with the 

 upper portion of the vas deferens (Wolffian duct) , which is known 

 as the ductus epididymis. The vasa efferentia and the ductus 

 epididymis are both much contorted tubules and constitute the 

 head (globus major) of the epididymis, which fits over the 

 anterior end of the testis. From the head of the epididymis the 

 coiled vas deferens passes posteriorly as the body of the epi- 

 didymis (corpus epididymidis) to the posterior end of the testis 

 where it forms a conical mass, the tail (globus minor) of the 

 epididymis. From the tail of the epididymis, the vas deferens 

 passes anteriorly along the side of the testis to the spermatic 

 cord. 



From the above accounts, it will be seen that in the free- 

 martin gonads of this group (42 and H-42) the rete tubules 

 estabhsh connections with the vasa efferentia tubules of the 

 epididymis, and constitute the beginnings of the head of an 

 epididymis, but as the vas deferens is absent, this remains 

 rudimentary. 



The spermatic cord. In gonads 42 and 66 a rudiment of a 

 spermatic cord occurs. Broadly attached at the hilus near the 

 anterior end, and at the side of the rete opposite the epididymis, 

 is a flattened cord of blood-vessels — the vascular cord (fig. 9, vp). 

 Structurally, it is a plexus of blood-vessels embedded in connec- 

 tive-tissue fibers. The fibromuscular wall of the blood-vessels 



