THE EPIDIDYMIS. 



449 



epididymis, they form a series of small conical masses, the bases of 

 which are Uivned in the same direction, and which are named C07ii 

 vascidosi. They are about 5\jth of an inch in diameter. Their walls 

 contain, besides fibrous tissue, longitudinal and transverse plain 

 muscular fibres. The largest of the cones is about eight lines long, 

 and when unrolled, each is found to consist of a single coiled duct, 

 varying from six to eight inches iu length, and the diameter of which 

 gradually decreases from the testis to the epididymis (Huschke), 

 Opposite the globus major these separate efferent vessels open, at 

 intervals which, in the unravelled tube, are found to be about three 

 inches in length, into a single canal or duct, the intervening and 

 subsequent convolutions of which constitute the epididymis itself. 



The canal of the epididymis is disposed in very numerous coils, and 

 extends from the globus major downwards to the globus minor or tail, 

 where, turning upwards, it is continued on as the vas deferens. "When 

 its complicated flexuosities are unrolled, it is found to be twenty feet 

 and upwards in length. The smallest windings are supported and held 

 together by fine areolar tissue ; but, besides this, numerous fibrous 



Fig. 321.— Injected Testicle, Fig. 321. 



Epididymis, and Yas Deferens 

 (from Kolliker after Arnold). 



a, body of the testicle ; h, lo- 

 bules ; c, vasa recta ; d, rete vas- 

 culosum ; e, vasa efferentia ; /, 

 coni vasculosi ; g, epididymis ; h, 

 vas deferens ; /, vas aberrans ; m, 

 branches of the spermatic arteiy 

 passing to the testicle and epidi- 

 dymis ; n, ramification in the 

 testis ; o, deferential a»-tery ; p, 

 its union with a twig of the sper- 

 matic artery. 



partitions are interposed 



between larger masses of 



the coils, which have been 



named the lohes of the 



epididymis,, the general 



direction of which is across 



that body. The canal of 



the epididymis is, at its 



commencement, about y o^h 



of an inch in diameter, but 



diminishing as it proceeds 



towards the globus minor, 



it is about -g^^th of an 



inch, after which it again increases in size, and becomes less deei^Iy 



convoluted as it approaches the vas deferens. Its coats, which are at 



first very thin, become thicker in its progress. 



The vasa efferentia and the tube of the epididymis diflFer from the 

 other portions of the ducts of the testis in the possession of thicker walls, 

 provided with a considerable amount of plain muscular fibres. The 

 epithelial lining cells are columnar or prismatic in form and are ciliated. 

 In the epididymis the cells are greatly elongated, in the vasa efferentia 

 they are shorter ; in the lower part of the epididymis the cilia disappear 



VOL. II. G G 



