640 



REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. 



Fallopian Tubes (Figs. 427, 428). Tnese tubes are each about 

 10 cm. in length, and extend from the angles of the uterus to 

 the vicinity of the ovaries. The ovarian extremity of each 

 tube expands into a funnel-shaped opening, the pavilion or infundi- 

 bulum, which is surrounded by fringed processes, the fimbrise. 

 At the uterine extremity its lumen will scarcely admit a bristle, 

 while at the ostium abdominale, the outer opening where the tube 

 expands into the infundibulum, its diameter is about 4 mm. 



The tube is composed of three coats, an internal mucous, next 

 to this a muscular, and, most external, a serous or peritoneal. The 



FiG. 428, Transverse section of Fallopian tube, showing the complicated arrange- 

 ment of the longitudinal plications which are here cut across (Martin). 



mucous membrane is arranged in longitudinal folds (Figs. 427, 

 428) and covered by a single layer of ciliated columnar epithe- 

 lium. There are no distinct glands in the duct, though some 

 writers regard the crypts as fulfilling the function of glands. The 

 muscular coat consists of an inner circular and an outer longitu- 

 dinal layer. 



Uterus (Fig. 429). This organ in the virgin condition has a 

 length of about 7.5 cm., a width of 4 cm. at its widest part, and 

 a thickness of 2.5 cm. It is divided into a body or corpus and a 

 neck or cervix, and is composed of three coats mucous, muscular, 

 and peritoneal. The mucous, which is the internal coat, is covered 



