"GROUSE DISEASE" STRONGYLOSIS 211 



level of the hinder end of the cervical glands. One of them runs, with but slight 

 undulations, straight to the "ovejector " which opens by the vagina, situated about 

 one-sixth of the body-length from the hinder end, the other passes the vagina and 

 reaches back almost to the anus ; it then doubles forward again and opens into the 

 posterior "ovejector." 



The anterior end of each ovary contains undifferentiated protoplasm, but soon 

 eggs begin to appear. At first these are very flattened, like a pile of coins, much 

 broader than they are long ; then they become thicker, and, finally, three or four 

 times longer than they are broad. The rounded nucleus is in every stage very 

 conspicuous. It is impossible to say precisely where the ovary ceases and the 

 oviduct begins. We find the long cylindrical cells rounding themselves off, and an 

 egg shell beginning to appear. By this time fertilisation must have taken place, 

 but I have not seen any spermatozoa in the oviduct. The oval cells usually lie at 

 first with their long axis at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the oviduct ; then, 

 when a little older, they lie obliquely, and, finally, they come to lie with their long 

 axis parallel to that of the duct, in which position they are most readily swallowed 

 by the "ovejector." The anterior and the posterior oviducts usually contain one, 

 two, or three unsegmented ova ; then come some six to eight segmented eggs repre- 

 senting as a rule the stages with two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty -four, and 

 sometimes a hundred and twenty-eight blastomeres. One or two of these stages 

 may be represented by two ova, but in any case the segmentation must be very 

 rapid (vide PI. xxin., Fig. 3). 



The lower end of the oviduct is lined by what, in optical section, appear to be 

 high columnar cells with very granular disintegrating borders. These seem to be 

 secreting something. The walls of the oviduct pass suddenly into the " ovejector," 

 which consists of three parts : () The most internal is somewhat funnel or trumpet- 

 shaped, its wider mouth is continuous with the walls of the oviduct and is 

 crenellated ; the funnel is richly supplied with both longitudinal and circular fibres ; 

 not infrequently it contains an egg. (b) The second chamber of the "ovejector" 

 is spherical, very transparent, and is marked by the presence of a large number of 

 radiating muscle-fibres running from the periphery to the limits of the lumen. The 

 contraction of these fibres would enlarge the lumen and suck the egg on. (c) The 

 third chamber of the " ovejector" is thin-walled, with a chitinous lining. It frequently 

 shelters an egg. At its outer end it narrows, and uniting with the similar narrow 

 end of its fellow it forms an extremely short vagina which opens to the exterior by 

 a longitudinal slit, the edges of which are also crenellated (vide PI. xxxin. Fig. 2). 



