TITF KKPRODUCTTVE SySTF,>r 



359 



directly continuous with its structure. In place of this it is provided 

 with what may be considered to be a highly specialized disconnected 

 excretory duct — the oviduct or Fallopian tube — which serves for the 

 transmission of its secretion to the uterus. 



On one side the ovary is attached by a broad base, the hilum, to 

 the broad ligament. Elsewhere the surface of the ovary is covered 

 bv a modified peritoneum. At llu- hilum the tissues of the broad 

 ligament pass into the ovary and spread out there to form the ovarian 



Fig. 251. — Ovary opened l)y Longitudinal Incision. Ovum has Escaped through 

 Tear in Surface. Cavity of follicle filled with blood clot (corpus hfemorrhagicum) and 

 irregular projections composed of lutein cells. (Kollmann's Atlas.) 



stroma. This consists of fibrous connective tissue rich in elastic 

 fibres and containing many smooth muscle cells. In the deeper cen- 

 tral portion of the organ, stroma alone is found. Here it contains 

 many large blood-vessels, and constitutes the medulla or zona vas- 

 culosa of the ovary (Fig. 252, 2). From the medulla the stroma radi- 

 ates toward the surface of the ovary and becomes interspersed with 

 glandular elements forming the ovarian cortex (Fig. 252, 3, 3'). At 

 the surface of the ovary, just beneath the peritoneum, the stroma 

 forms a rather dense layer of fibrous tissue, the tunica alhuginea. At 

 the margin of the peritoneal surface of the ovary the connective tissue 

 of the peritoneum becomes continuous with the stroma of the ovary, 

 while the llai mesothelium of the general peritoneum is replaced 

 by a single layer of cuboidal cells, which covers the surface of the 



