MALE GENEEATIVE OEGANS. 



203 



gland in the form of a mass of fibrous tissue, which is known as the 

 mediastinum (fig. 236, /). Attached to the posterior margin of the body 

 of the gland is a mass (epididymis, e) which when investigated is found 

 to consist of a single convoluted tube, receiving at its upper end the 

 efferent ducts of the testis and prolonged at its lower end into a thick- 

 walled muscular tube, the vas deferens, which conducts the secretion to 

 the urethra. 



The glandular substance of the testicle is wholly made up of con- 

 voluted tubules, which when unravelled are of very considerable length. 



FIG. 237. PASSAGE OF CONVOLUTED SEMINIFEROUS TUBULES INTO STRAIGHT TUBULES 



AND OF THESE INTO THE RETE TESTIS. (Mihalkowics. ) 



a, seminiferous tubules ; b, fibrous stroma continued from the mediastinum testis ; c, rete testis. 



Each commences near the tunica albuginea, and after many windings 

 terminates, usually after joining one or two others, in a straight tubvle 

 (fig. 236, b), which passes into the mediastinum, and there forms, by 

 uniting with the other straight tubules, a network of intercom- 

 municating vessels, which is known as the rete testis. From the rete a 

 certain number of efferent tubules arise, and after a few convolutions 

 pass into the tube of the epididymis. 



