654 THE TESTES. 



muscle. It extends from the epididymis to the internal 

 abdominal ring, and is covered by the remains of the peri- 

 toneum, which accompanied the descent of the testis, called 

 the tunica-vaginalis of the cord. 



The spermatic artery comes from the abdominal aorta, 

 Bometimes from the renal artery, proceeds along the psoas 

 muscle to the internal abdominal ring ; here it joins the 

 spermatic cord, and descends along with it to the back 

 part of the testicle, where it enters the rete testis by divid- 

 ing into several branches, which again subdivide very 

 minutely around the tubuli seminiferi. A branch goes to 

 the vas deferens from the superior vesical called deferential, 

 and one to the creinaster muscle from the epigastric, the 

 cremasteric artery. 



The veins, on leaving the rete testis, become very tortu- 

 ous, twine round the arteries and form a plexus called the 

 corpus pampiniforme, constituting the principal bulk of the 

 cord. The right spermatic vein ends in the inferior cava 

 near the renal. The left ends in the left renal vein. 



The nerves come from the spermatic plexus. Branches 

 also from the lumbar plexus go to the cremaster. 



The lymphatics go to the lumbar glands. 



The testes are not seen first in the scrotum, but are situ- 

 ated in the abdominal cavity, immediately beneath the 

 kidneys and behind the peritoneum. They are represented 

 as being about two lines long in the middle of the third 

 month of uterine life. About the fifth or sixth month they 

 have descended as low as the inferior portion of the psoas 

 muscles. In the seventh month they are seen in the iliac 

 fossa ; in the eighth in the abdominal canal ; and a few 

 weeks before birth they are found to reach the scrotum. 

 The gubernaculum testis is a cord composed of cellular and 

 ligamentous fibres, extending from the inferior portion of 

 the testicle to the scrotum, and is regarded as the agent 

 by the contractile power of which the testis descends or is 

 drawn into the scrotum. 



function of the Testes. The office of these glands has 

 been already stated to be to secrete the semen, a fluid 



