PHYSIOLOGY OF THE OVIDUCT 409 



fundibulum has never been observed' in the act of swallowing 

 a free yolk. Further, the work of Patterson ('10) and Bartel- 

 mez ('12) shows that normally the follicular orientation is pre- 

 served in the oviduct. These considerations make it certain 

 that normally the yolk is ovulated into the enclosing funnel. 



Coste believed that the pressure of the funnel upon the fol- 

 licle was the probable cause of ovulation and Patterson ('10) 

 apparently accepts this view. The walls of the funnel are mus- 

 cular and at the time it embraces the follicle it is in active peri- 

 stalsis. That the pressure is sufficient to cause or at least ma- 

 terially to aid ovulation is a natural inference. 



' That yolks set free in the body cavitj' may subsequently enter an oviduct 

 seemed the most reasonable explanation for the conditions observed in two birds 

 (no. 17K and 397K) autopsied at this Laboratory. Both these birds were pure 

 bred Barred Plymouth Rock hens a little over one year old and each had laid a 

 number of eggs. Bird no. 17K had not laid for four months and bird 397K had not 

 laid for one month. At autopsy the sex organs on the left side of the body of 

 each bird were in practically non-laying condition. In neither bird was there 

 any right ovary. Each bird had what appeared to be a right oviduct filled with 

 large egg concrements. These concrements were exactly similar to such masses 

 often found in abnormal conditions of the left oviduct. They appeared to con- 

 sist of concentric layers of hardened albumen surrounding hardened yolks. In 

 both birds the upper end of the tube was greatly distended. Its walls were 

 stretched thin as is a left oviduct containing large egg masses. Smooth muscle 

 fibers were visible in the walls. Each bird showed considerable peritonitis and 

 there were adhesions between the walls of the tube (oviduct) and intestine. 

 The funnel mouth could not be distinguished. The lips had apparently adhered 

 together; (this is often true in the case of egg concrements in the left oviduct). 

 The tube continued for several centimeters behind the caudal end of the masses. 

 It ended blindly near the cloaca into which it did not open. There was no dif- 

 ferentiated shell gland. In Bird no. 397K the tube had ligaments very much 

 like normal oviduct ligaments. In Bird no. 17K the ligaments were not exactly 

 like normal oviduct ligaments but the tube was held in a fold of peritoneum. 

 There seemed no doubt that these egg masses were egg concrements formed 

 in the rudimentary right oviducts and little doubt that the centre of these masses 

 were yolks. If this was true the yolks must have been ovulated from the left 

 ovary and have passed across the body cavity (behind the gizzard in Bird 17K 

 and by this path or through a hole which was found in the mesentery in Bird 

 397K) and there have been picked up by the righ"" oviduct. It should possibly be 

 added that other large right oviducts have been observed in the routine autopsy 

 work. One case (Bird no. 276) had both right and left oviducts in nearly functional 

 condition. The typical parts were differentiated in the right duct and it was 

 open into the cloaca. In this case also there was no right ovary. 



