CH. LVIII.] 



THE WOLFFIAN BODIES. 



857 



Thus in fishes and amphibians, the semen passes through tubules 

 which are also renal in function. 



In the higher vertebrates the subject has been chiefly studied in 

 the chick, but most of the facts have been confirmed in the 

 mammal. 



The archinephros which is first formed becomes the Wolffian 

 duct, and the segmented tubules, which are rather more numerous 



fig. 677. Diagram showing the relations of the female (the left-hand figure 9 ) and of the 

 male (the right-hand figure ) reproductive organs to the general plan (the middle figure) 

 of these organs in the higher vertebrata (including man). Cl, cloaca; li, rectum; 

 Bl, urinary bladder ; U, ureter ; A', kidney ; Uh, urethra ; G, genital gland, ovary, or 

 testis; W, Wolffian body ; W d, Wolffian duct ; M, MUllerian duct ; Pat, prostate 

 gland ; ' '/. Cowper*s gland ; ''.-/' corpus spongiosum ; C.e, corpus cavernosum. 



In the female. V, vagina; Ut, uterus; Fp, Fallopian tube; Gt, Gaertner's duct; Pv, 

 parovarium ; A, anus; C.c, C.ip, clitoris. 



In the male. C.ip, C'.c', penis ; Ut, uterus masculinis ; Vi, vesicula seminalis ; Vd, vas 

 deferens. (Huxley.) 



than one to each segment, get bound into the Wolffian body. 

 The Mullerian duct is not split off from this, but is formed 

 separately by a longitudinal folding in of the pleuro-peritoneal 

 cavity ; the hind or true kidney is formed in both sexes as before 

 by a growth backwards from the Wolffian duct. The tubules are 

 at first solid columns of cells which are subsequently hollowed out. 

 The Wolffian bodies, or temporary kidneys, as they may be 

 termed, give place at an early period in the human foetus to their 

 successors, the permanent kidneys, which are developed behind 



