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456 



Jackson^ s Anatomical Description 



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The two Oviducts hang loosely from the upper shell, 

 enclosed in a broad duplicature of peritoneum, by which 

 they are supported as the intestines are, by their mesen- 

 tery, approaching the median line towards their termi- 

 nation, but receding far from it towards their ovarian 

 extremity. When removed from the body, one of them 

 X was measured and found to be of the prodigious length 

 of twelve feet; the average width, before being cut open, 

 was two inches ; at its ovarian extremity it was broader 

 than this, and extremely thin and delicate ; towards the 

 cloaca it gradually became thicker and smaller, measuring 

 three inches transversely at this part when cut open, and 

 one line in thickness, having a fleshy feel, marked exter- 

 nally by longitudinal rugae and still more so on the internal 

 surface, showing how far it may have been distended. 

 The termination of the oviducts in the urethra was quite 



r , 



prominent, having a rounded, mamillary form, smaller 

 than any other part, but quite dilatable. Bhimenbach 

 speaks of the two uteri, as if they were distinct from the 

 oviducts, but there seems to be no ground for the distinc- 

 tion. In each of the oviducts, ten inches from their ter-^ 

 mination, there was .an egg, two and a half inches m 

 diameter and perfectly round ; shell not fully formed. 



The ovaries v/eve situated one on each side of the ver- 

 tebral column, and consisted of a broad duplicature of 

 peritoneum, the ova hanging more or less in clusters from 

 its free edge, or being enclosed between its folds near it. 

 There were about forty or fifty of these ova on each side ; 

 those which appeared to be in a state fit for impregnation 

 were about one and one fourth inches in diameter, per- 

 fectly round, of a deep yellow color ; the investing mem- 

 brane was very delicate and vascular, and the contents in 

 which the color resided had the consistence of thick 



