122 GLANDS. 



dozen tubuli (vasa efferentid) which, by their union, 

 constitute the head of the epidydimis (cjlobus major). 

 Immediately after emerging from the corpus HigJimo- 

 rianum these tubes become exceedingly convoluted, 

 and proceed in succession to the globus major of the 

 epidydimis ; each of them takes the shape of a cone 

 (coni vasculosi), the apex of which is continuous with 

 the rete testis. Finally, the canal of the epidydimis, 

 after having by its convolutions formed the body of 

 the epidydimis and its lower extremity (c/lobus mi- 

 nor), and after giving off the vasculum aberrant, be- 

 comes the vas deferens, or excretory duct of the 

 gland. 



Tubuii testis. The spermatic tubules (tubuli testis) and the vasa 

 recta, which are directly continuous with them, have 

 very thick walls, consisting of several distinct layers. 

 The external, which is the thickest (zioth of a line), 

 is fibrous and very rich in plasniatic cells (PL XXI. 

 fig. II. 1) ; the internal, exceedingly thin and struc- 

 tureless (fig. II. 2), is in relation, by its inner surface, 

 with the stratified epithelium by which the cavity of 

 the tubule is completely filled (fig. IL 3). The cells 

 of this epithelium are of considerable size, polyhe- 

 dral, and, in the adult, most of them contain oil- 

 globules. In the rete testis the tubuli have no pro- 

 per walls ; they are simply tunnels through the fibrous 

 substance of which the corpus Highrnorianum is com- 

 posed. 



^ id /eferen 8 . and ^ n the epidydimis the non-striated muscular ele- 

 ment is added to those already recognised in the 

 walls of the tube, and its epithelium is cylindrical 

 (PI. XXI. fig. III.). The vas deferens, proceeding from 



