36 ARTHUR ROBINSON. 



The ovary in many mammals is placed immediately posterior to 

 the kidney, and is attached to the mesial face of the broad ligament. 

 Nevertheless it often passes backward, and in the human female is 

 normally situated at the brim of the pelvis. 



In all cases, however, whether it is placed far forward in the 

 abdominal cavity or has receded to the pelvic brim, it is attached to 

 that face of the broad ligament which was originally internal. 



As a general rule the ovary is more or less ovoid in shape, and is 

 compressed from side to side, so that it has two surfaces, two borders, 

 and two extremities. Its surfaces may be grooved, as in Beluga 

 catodon* or smooth, as in Codogenys paca, guinea pig, antelope, &c, 

 rough and tubercular, as in the sowjf or it may consist, as described 

 and figured by Owen in the "Wombat, J of a number of almost separate 

 follicles. 



By one edge it is attached to the mesial surface of the broad 

 ligament ; the other edge is free, and is directed toward the ventral 

 wall of the abdomen, consequently one surface of the ovary looks 

 outward, and is in relation with the inner face of the broad ligament, 

 while the other is directed inward. The long axis of the ovary is 

 parallel to the long axis of the body, one extremity being anterior, 

 the other posterior. 



A white streak, which runs along the margin of attachment to the 

 broad ligament, marks each surface of the ovary ; it has been called 

 the "white line," and it indicates fairly accurately the region of 

 transition of the germinal cells covering the free surfaces of the 

 ovary into the endothelium lining the inner surface of the peritoneum. 

 Two strands of fibrous tissue, both connected with the ovary, are 

 placed in the mesial layer of the broad ligament : one extends from 

 the posterior extremity of the ovary to the tip of the cornu uteri, 

 the other extends forward from the anterior extremity of the ovary, 

 and is either lost in the broad ligament on the outer side of the 

 kidney, or it passes forward to the diaphragm. The posterior of the 

 two strands is called by the human anatomist the ovarian ligament, 

 a term which it is convenient to retain. The anterior strand has 

 been called the diaphragmatic ligament. The two portions correspond 



* M. Watson and A. H. Young, Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxix., p. 431. 

 t Owen, Anat. of Vert., vol. iii., p. 694. 

 \ Loc. cit., vol. Hi., p. 681. 



