86 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing of elongated tubes, usually spiral, and smaller tubes branch- 

 ing off from their sides like the ducts of a compound secreting 

 gland. These uterine glands are abundantly supplied with 

 blood by a rich network of capillaries in thin walls, but are 

 functionally inactive until conception has taken place. Then 

 they undergo a great increase in size, become increasingly vas- 

 cular, and secrete the nutrient matter for the support of the 

 fojtus. The outer foetal membrane^ the chorion, develops villous 

 processes, on which the blood-vessels especially ramify, and which 

 fit accurately into the uterine follicles. Tliese villi may be seen 

 in the afterbirth of the cow to have numerous small secondary 

 villi branching off from their sides, and corresponding to lesser 

 tubes of the uterine follicles. 



In ruminants, the uterine glands are not scattered over the 

 entire surface of the womb, but accumulated at about fifty 

 points on little rounded elevations, connected with the wall of 

 the uterus by a narrow neck, and known as cotyledons. These 

 cotyledons increase to a diameter of one or two inches after con- 

 ception, and the villi of the chorion are aggregated into an 

 equal number of cotyledons, which thus fit into the uterine ones. 



We have thus brought into the most intimate relations, and 

 over the most extended surface, the rich network of capillary 

 blood-vessels in the uterine walls, and the equally rich network 

 on the outer membrane of the foetus. The maternal and foetal 

 vessels are only separated by a delicate membrane and a single 

 layer of cells. 



The secretion of these glands in the cow and ewe have been 

 analyzed by Prevost and Morin, Schlossberger and Arthur 

 Gamgce. The annexed tables will show the nutrient nature of 

 the fluid : — 



