The terminal branches of tne system of tubules 

 which ramify over the surface of the intestine, end in little 

 enlargements or ampullae, the -.vails of v/hich are very thin, 

 and lie closely pressed against the intestinal' wall . The 

 cells of the duct are cylindricil, and gradually pass over 

 into the flat cells of the ampullae. I have failed to find 

 any cilia on the latter, as Chandelon (2) has described in 

 Perophora. Fig. 26, shoves a cros:---3ection of the intestine 

 surrounded by the thin-v;alled tubules and ampullae, tne flat 

 cells of which contain very deeply stained nuclei. On one 

 side of the figure one of the ducts is cut longitudinally, 

 just where it forks near the surface of the intestine. 



Different viev/s have been held concerning the func- 

 tion of the "organe refringont". Krohn /S^ , Kuppfer (16) 

 and Giard (G) have regarded it as a renal organ, but as the 

 ampullae always contain a clear, unstainable fluid, and never 

 concretions or epithelial debris, this view has been discard- 

 ed. A second hypothesis, that it is a digestive gland v/hich 

 gives its secretion to the intestine, has been held by Chan- 

 delon (2) and Delia Valle (3), the latter attributing to the 

 organ an hepa to-pancreatic function. Pizon (22), however, 

 believes that the flat cells of the ampullae possess no glan- 

 dular characters, and cannot be reconciled v;itn a secretory 

 function, but he is inclined to regard the organ as a chy - 

 lif erous apparatus . He says (I.e., page 95), "Je suis 

 plutot porte a croire que 1 '^pi theli^jm des ampoules ne se- 

 crete rien, et qu'il se charge simplement d'absorber les pro- 



■34. 



