THE CAT. 



[CHAP. viu. 



neum is not a shut sac but has two distinct perforations, the 

 mouths of the Fallopian tubes, which indirectly place its cavity 

 in connection with the external surface of the body. 



24. The OVAUY is the essential secreting organ of the female 

 sex, corresponding to the testis of the male. There are two such 

 bodies, one on each side, as there are two testes, but, unlike the 

 latter, the ovaries are each a completely closed sac or follicle, and, 

 though each has its excretory duct the Fallopian tube this duct 

 has no permanent connexion with its gland (as the vas deferens has 



Fig. 118. SECTION OF THE PREPARED OVARY OF THE CAT MAGNIFIED six DIAMETERS. 



1. Outer covering and free border of the ovary. 

 1'. Attached border. 



2. The ovarian stroma, presenting a fibrous and 



vascular structure. 



3. External fibre-nuclear substance. 



4. Blood-vessels. 



5. Ovigerms in their earliest stages, lying near 



the surface. 



6. Ovigerms which have begun to enlarge, and 



to pass more deeply into the ovary. 



7. Ovigerms, round which the Croatian follicle 



and tunica granulosa are now formed, and 



which have passed somewhat deeper into 

 the ovary, and are surrounded by firm 

 fibrous stroma. 



8. More advanced Graafian follicle, with the 



ovum imbedded in the cells of the pro- 

 ligerous disc. 



9. The most advanced follicle, containing the 



ovum, and approaching the surface. 

 9'. A follicle from which the ovum has acci- 

 dentally escaped. 



10. Corpus luteum, presenting radiated columns 



of cellular structure. 



with its testis), but only a temporary one. The ovary is of an 

 oval shape (like the testis). It lies deeply in the dorsal and lateral 

 part of the abdominal cavity, hidden by the intestines, and en- 

 veloped in a fold of peritoneum which forms its outer coat. The 

 inner end of the gland is attached to the uterus by a dense cord, 

 already mentioned as the ligament of the ovary. At the anterior 

 border of the gland is a depression called the hilus, where the blood- 

 vessels enter, and which is the only part not invested by the 

 peritoneum. Beneath the outer or serous coat of the ovary is its 

 second or proper covering, the tunica albuginea, often compared with 

 the same part of the testis. It serves to maintain the organ in 

 shape, but really is but a condensed part of what is beneath it, 

 namely, the proper tissue the stroma, or parenchyma, of the ovary. 

 This substance is of a pink, or red, colour (from the number of 

 vessels it contains), and is made up of connective tissue, with nerves, 



