384 THE MALE KEPRODUCTIVE ORGANS 



epithelium, whose flattened cuboidal elements are wedged between 

 the bases of the tall columnar cells. 



The epithelium rests upon a cellular basement membrane, 

 which is supported by a connective tissue tunic of varying thick- 

 ness. In addition to many elastic fibres, this coat contains a few 

 smooth muscle cells (Klein *). The coils of the epididymis are 

 firmly united into a solid mass by means of the dense intervening 

 connective tissue. They form the whole of the globus minor and 

 a considerable portion of the globus major. Connected with the 

 canal of the epididymis near its junction with the vas deferens, or 

 with the beginning of the latter tubule, is a short coiled tubular 

 duct, which is found in the connective tissue between the epidid- 

 ymis and vas deferens. This is the vas abberans of Haller (see 

 Fig. 303). It represents the remains of the fetal Wolflian duct. 



The appendix epididymis and appendix testis (respectively the 

 stalked and sessile hydatid of Morgagni) are formed by vascular 

 folds of the tunica yaginalis, which in young individuals contain 

 remnants of the Miillerian duct in the form of irregular tubules 

 lined with columnar, rarely ciliated, epithelium. In the appendix 

 testis they are frequently cystic. 



THE VAS DEFEREKS (Ductus deferens) 



This duct is a continuation of the vas epididymis, whose course 

 now becomes relatively straight. In this portion of the excretory 

 duct of the testis the lining epithelium soon loses its cilia, and 

 the basal cells become more prominent. Hence in the greater 

 portion of its course the vas deferens is lined by tall, columnar, 

 non-ciliated epithelium, with low basal cells between the attached 

 ends of the columnar cells. 



The epithelium rests upon a fibro-cellular basement membrane, 

 which is supported by a fibrous tunica propria. This, in turn, 

 passes almost insensibly into the muscular coat which consists of 

 two layers, an inner circular and an outer longitudinal, both of 

 which are highly developed. In the lower portions of the vas 

 deferens, a thin internal layer of longitudinal muscle fibres is also 

 found. The fibres of the internal and middle circular layers are 

 frequently less regularly arranged, in which case their oblique 

 bundles interlace with one another in a most intricate manner. 

 The very thick, smooth muscular coat and the relatively narrow 



* Strieker's Handbook, ii. 



