PHYSIOLOGY OF THE OVIDUCT 411 



lation then takes place into the body cavity or if the duct be 

 stopped at the level of the shell gland normal eggs may be 

 formed and passed back up the duct into the body cavity. The 

 fate of these yolks and eggs and their effect on body metabolism 

 is of some interest. 



At the height of a period of egg production a bird is con- 

 suming a large amount of food materials which she is elaborat- 

 ing into eggs. In the cases cited she is discharging these prod- 

 ucts into her own body. Is she able to resorb these eggs and 

 if so by what process is it accomplished? And are the resorbed 

 eggs utilized in the body metabolism? 



There are in' all fourteen cases where the bird at autopsy 

 showed that she had been either ovulating (cases 1, 4, 7, 8, 

 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19 and 26) or backing fully formed eggs 

 (cases 9 and 14) into the body cavity. Four of these fourteen 

 (cases 1, 7, 12 and 26) died from peritonitis which may have 

 been caused by inability to absorb the yolks in the body cavity. 

 The other ten birds, or 71 per cent, were able to resorb the 

 yolks or eggs. Moreover, in none of the four cases of peritonitis 

 were we certain that it was due to the presence of the yolks 

 although this seemed the most probable cause. 



In addition to the fourteen cases cited in the preceding para- 

 graph there are in the archives of the Laboratory autopsy rec- 

 ords of other birds which at the time of death were ovulating 

 into the body cavity and resorbing the yolks. Two methods 

 of resorption are observed. First, absorption directly through 

 the general peritoneal surface, and second, walling off of the 

 yolks or eggs by peritoneum and subsequent absorption. In 

 cases 1, 7, 8, 14, 15^ and 16 absorption was by the first method. 

 None of these cases present such clear evidence of rapid absorption 

 of several yolks as some cases met with in the routine autopsy 

 work. Descriptions of two such cases follow. 



Bird no. 1406 laid but seven eggs during her life. The last 

 of these was laid August 22 of her pullet year. She was kept 



■* In this case the yolk had been entirely absorbed but the follicle on the ovary 

 was large and it thferefore seemed impossible that sufficient time had elapsed for 

 absorption by the second method. 



