240 THE PHYSIOLOGY OF REPRODUCTION 



becomes sacculated, and in this region is known as the ampulla of 

 Henle. In the walls of the ampulla there are a number of small 

 tubular glands, which doubtless supply some portion of the ejected 

 fluid. 



Disselhorst 1 believes that the ampulla acts as a seminal reservoir 

 (a function which has also been assigned to the vesicula? semiuales, 

 as described below), and states that he has found spermatozoa stored 



FIG. 62. Passage of convoluted seminiferous tubules (a) into straight tubules, 

 and of these into rete testis (c) (after Mihalkowicz, from Schafer) ; 

 6, fibrous stroma continued from mediastinum. 



up in little pockets in the walls of this structure in animals during 

 the rutting time. He suggests, further, that there is a relation 

 between the state of development of the ampulla and the time occupied 

 by copulation. When the organ is small or absent, as in dogs, cats, 

 and boars, the coition is a slow' process, but when the ampulla is 

 large and well-developed, as in horses and sheep, the coitus occupies 

 a relatively short time. 



The vas deferens on either side unites with the terminating 



1 Disselhorst, " Ausfiihrapparat mid Anhangsdriisen der Mannlichen 

 Geschlechtsorgane," Oppel's Le/irbuck (far Vergleichenden Mikroscojrisehen, 

 Anatomic der WiiJteltiere, vol. iv., Jena, 19<>4. 



