THE TESTICLES 



1027 



of the tunica albuginea, and subdivide the interior of the capsule into a number 

 of loculi (150-200J. 



\\'itlnn these loculi lie tlie testicuhii- tubules, su])ported ))y a fine retiforni 

 conne(!tive tissue, whicli becomes condensed into a hiiihly vascular lamina called 

 the tunica vasculosa, where it is in contact with the albujiinea. The i)roper 

 secreting substance consists of fine branching and anastomosing canals, the tubuli 

 seminiferi, about yVjith of an inch (.2 mm.) in diameter, and lined witli a layer 

 of cul)i(al cells in wliich are developed the spermatic filaments or spermatozoa. 

 The tul)ules are collected into little bundles, called lobules, aliout three hundred 

 in number, each comprising two or more separate tubes. The number of these 

 loliuli's is variously estimated (300-400), and the total length of the component 

 tubules has been calculated roughly at al)Out nine hundred yards. By the union 

 of the tul)ules of the different lobules are formed a number of larger tubes, the 

 tubuli recti, which converge towards the mediastinum, and on entering it l)reak up 

 into a plexus, the rate testis ; from the rate in turn spring twelve to twenty efferent 

 tubes, or vasa efferentia, twice or three times as large as the tubules, and these, 

 piercing tlie uj)per and back part of the albuginea, end in the head of the 

 epididymis ( fig. 623). 



The epididymis, representing the second stage in the course of the seminiferous 



Fig. 623. — Dr.\oR.\M of tjie Testicul.^r Tubules. 



TUNICA ALBUGINEA RECEIVING ATTACH- 

 MENT OF TRA8ECUL/E 



COLLECTING TUBE 

 COM VASCULOSI 



VASA EFFERENTIA 



RETE TESTIS IN MEDIASTINUM TESTIS 

 TUBE OF EPIDIDYMIS 



CC^ y^ > ■ VAS ABERRANS 



vessels, is invested by a tunica albuginea continuous with that of the testicle 

 proper, but of much greater tenuity. The vasa efferentia, after their escape from 

 the testicle proper, form each a tube about six to eight inches in length, lined with 

 ciliated epithelium and coiled in such a manner as to assume the form of a conical 

 mass, the conus vasculosus, with the apex towards the albuginea. The coni 

 vasculosi groujx'd together constitute the globus major, and their respective 

 tubulrs arL- collected by a single canal, the tube of the epididymis, which l)v its 

 comi»lcx coils, fifteen to twenty feet in length, makes up the l)ody and globus minor 

 of the epididymis, and finally terminates in the free portion of thi' (luct, the vas 

 deferens. It presents near its termination one or more diverticula, the largest and 

 most constant of which, the vas aberrans of Haller, ranges from an inch and a 

 half to fifteen inches in length, and runs up between the l)ody of the eindidymis 

 and the commencement of the vas deferens. The tube of the ejiididymis, like those 

 of the coni vasculosi, is lined with ciliated epithelium, but its walls are thick, and 

 contain two layers of unstriped nmscular fibres. 



Two little l)odies of some morphologieal interest are to be found api>en(led to 

 the testicle ])ro]»er and the globus major. The less constant of these, known as the 

 hydatid of Morgagni, is a pedieulated sac from one-eightli to one-third of an inch 

 in length, dilated at its free extremity and containing a clear fiuid; the other, 



