of the Egg in the Common Fowl. 375 



however carefully one operates, passing along the folds. I 

 have had no opportunity of instituting a comparison between 

 these formations and the ovula Nabothi in mammalia; but 

 their history exhibits a striking parallelism in some respects, 

 in spite of the fundamental difference as to the place. 



In the middle of the summer the tissues of the infundibulum 

 continue to swell, so that the arrangement which, as it is seen in 

 the spring, may be described as areolar, is now more properly 

 described as spongeous or cavernous; parts which formerly 

 might be examined by an immersion-lens, now defy the appli- 

 cation of any but low powers of the microscope. The right- 

 hand lobe of the infundibulum swells so much along the 

 zone above described, that particularly the anterior part be- 

 comes arched inwards ; whilst the fimbriai in this part for the 

 same reason bend towards the outer side, where by degrees 

 they fall off and degenerate, whilst a newly-formed margin, to 

 take the place of the incurved portion, is already formed, 

 mostly on the external border of the zone in question ; some- 

 times even two new lobes may be seen almost parallel to each 

 other. This circumstance explains why in such hens the 

 bags are most frequently found in the extreme margin of the 

 infundibulum. 



When a hen has been laying for some time, she becomes 

 exhausted, she ceases to lay, wants to sit, and a peculiar state 

 of dissolution may be observed in all parts of the oviduct. 

 The ciliated epithelium falls off, and the most distended por- 

 tions of folds and margin also are loosened. In the general 

 cavity of the body a considerable quantity (I found once as 

 much as an ounce) of a yellowish brown liquid is collected, 

 containing some small acuform particles and a great mass of 

 ciliated epithelium from the oviduct. The whole of the latter, 

 together with the mesometry, seem half-dissolved, and are very 

 fragile. This state of things begins to show even before the 

 laying is quite finished. In one case I found the cavity of 

 the body full of the liquid, and the infundibulum quite ragged, 

 in a hen which still had an egg in the lowest part of the 

 oviduct, the largest follicle having a diameter of about 

 10 millims. If the hen is not allowed to sit, she begins to lay 

 again after an interval of from six to twelve days, rarely 

 more. This interval consequently suffices for the regeneration 

 of the ciliated epithelium, as well as of muscular elements, in 

 the oviduct and the mesometries. Towards the autumn, when 

 the activity of the hen approaches its conclusion for the year, 

 the volume of the oviduct and the infundibulum are consider- 

 ably reduced during the period of rest, even if the activity is 



