484 CETACEA. 



wall, all of whicli are observed in tlie virgin, but now modified. Two of the tongue- 

 like folds are opposed to each other in the middle line of the ventral wall, whereas 

 the azygos fold occurs on the dorsal aspect of the canal and is long and pendulous, 

 fitting in between the former two. On it are found three or four broad, but thin 

 lamellar folds of the mucous membrane, while others, less strongly developed, and 

 even assuming the character of fine rugae clothe the anterior portion of this, and 

 extend also on to the second fold, beyond which the lamellae become more and more 

 developed until on the constriction of the third fold they form a fringe of thin plates, 

 most perfectly formed in the os uteri externum itseK. These lamellae in the 

 virgin are confined to the third fold and to the os uteri. The third fold is so closely 

 applied to the os uteri externum that it is very apt to be mistaken for it, but when 

 it is cut into longitudinally it is found that its orifice anteriorly is not directly 

 continuous with the os, but that it lies to the right of the latter, the two communi- 

 cating through the interspace between them, and which in the specimen before me 

 is filled with mucus. The wall of the vagina attains its greatest thickness at the first 

 fold, where it is as much as one and a half inch, while its general thickness is not 

 more than a quarter of an inch. The os is 0-75 inch long and is lined with seventeen 

 broad lamellae, those of opposite sides interlocking with each other. These lamellae 

 have a special course over the surfaces on which they occur, but their lengths are 

 very various. In passing over the inwardly projecting folds and over the uterine 

 opening of the os they attain their greatest breadth, and diminish greatly in the 

 recesses between the folds. On the second induplication they are much thicker than 

 in the os uteri externum, and their two surfaces are covered throughout with very 

 narrow secondary lamellae, which run parallel with their outlines. These secondary 

 lamellae are much finer and more numerous on the leaf -like folds of the third 

 induplication and of the os uteri, on which they are not unfrequently connected 

 to each other by tertiary cross lamellae. In the uterus, the lamellar folds surround- 

 ing the OS uteri run up the walls of the uterus, in some instances, for nearly 

 an inch, where they are continuous with certain permanent folds which occur on 

 its walls. 



Minute structure of the vaginal glands. — These, as has been stated, are numer- 

 ous, and, so far as the microscope reveals, they present a common character. The 

 glands in great number descend into the submucous tissue as wavy, straight or 

 branched tubules. A number of these tubules again combine and open into a 

 kind of sac or glandular reservoir, which relatively large area or open space in 

 certain aspects of the sections has a stellate configuration, the limbs being short 

 closed diverticular appendages. The glandular tubules, reservoir, and diverticula 

 are thickly fined with polygonal epithelium, and this reaches to the surface and is 

 freely distributed on the vaginal wall (PL XXXVIII, figs. 9 and 12). 



These tubular glands in some respects comport themselves to the disposition 

 assumed by the true utricular glands of the uterine cavity, but they are straighter 

 or less contorted than the latter, and are somewhat greater in calibre, and amidst their 

 epithelium is pigmental matter sufficient to give the gland layer a dark brownish 



