UROGENITAL SYSTEM. 



3*3 



so that the whole resembles a renal corpuscle, but is different in origin. 

 In either case the exuding fluid passes into the metacoele from which 

 it is drawn by the cilia of the nephrostomes and passed into the tubules. 

 The blood is brought to the glomus or glomeruli by short segmental 

 arteries arising from the dorsal aorta (fig. 318) and, after passing 

 through the capillaries, it is carried away by the postcardinal veins 

 of the corresponding side to the heart, these veins keeping pace in 

 their backward development with the development of the nephridial 

 tubules. 



FIG. 318. Stereogram of developing pro- and mesonephros. a, aorta; g, glomus or 

 glomerulus; m, mesentery; mt, mesonephric tubule; n, notochord; nc, cavity of (nt) nephro- 

 tome; ns, nephrostome; pc, postcardinal vein; pd, pronephric duct; pt, pronephric tubule; 

 ptm, peritoneal membrane. 



There is much that goes to show that the pronephros formerly had a much 

 greater extension than at present, including a larger number of somites. It has, 

 however, been replaced in the adults of all vertebrates (with the possible exception 

 of Bdellostoma) by the mesonephros, and later, in the amniotes, by the metanephros 

 as described below. 



Mesonephros. The mesonephros or WolfSan body is the second 

 excretory organ to arise. It arises after the pronephros and its 

 duct are formed, by the development of a series of mesonephric tubules, 

 which grow out from the nephrotomes behind those concerned in the 

 formation of the pronephros. These tubules extend laterally until 

 they meet and fuse with the pronephric duct, which now acts as the 

 excretory canal of the new gland. In some cases the point of origin 



