4 Maine; agricultural expurime^nt station. 19 io. 



(ostium tubae abdominale or infundibulum), (b) the albumen 

 secreting- portion, (c) the isthmus, (d) the uterus (or shell 

 gland) and (e) the vagina. The walls are thin and soft and 

 the tube empty and collapsed. The duct usually appears flat- 

 tened laterally so that the ligaments are attached at the ends of 

 its greatest diameter. At its anterior end the tubular portion of 

 the oviduct spreads out into the funnel. The mouth of the 

 funnel lies in a diagonal position, relative to the longitudinal 

 axis of the bird (cf. Fig. i). This arises from the fact that 

 the dorsal margin of the tubular portion of the duct extends 

 farther forward than does the ventral. 



Since the tube is collapsed laterally its mouth is a narrow 

 slit-like opening-. The angles of this opening lie at the mid- 

 dorsal and mid-ventral margins of the duct, or at the attach- 

 ments of the dorsal and ventral ligaments. The funnel is 

 short except at the angles of the mouth of the tube where it 

 is extended into narrow tongues of tissue. The short portions 

 of the funnel are extensions of the medial and lateral halves of 

 the duct and are sometimes called the Hps of the funnel. The 

 elongations of the funnel which arise at the angles of its mouth 

 are continuous with the duct at its dorsal and ventral margins, 

 and thus at the attachments of the ligaments. The peritoneum 

 which covers the external surface of these elongations is con- 

 tinuous with the peritoneum forming the ligaments, in the same 

 way as is the peritoneum covering the external surface of the 

 tube. The anterior elongation of the funnel does not extend 

 straight forward in the cranial direction, but instead turns lat- 

 erad, forming an angle of about 30 degrees with the sagittal 

 plane of the animal. It is suspended from the anterior lobe 

 of the left kidney and the dorsal body wall by the cranial end of 

 the dorsal ligament. The posterior elongation of the funnel 

 runs caudad parallel to the oviduct and is suspended from the 

 ventral margin of the duct by the cranial part of the ventral 

 ligament. These attachments of the elongations of the funnel 

 spread it out beneath the caudal and lateral angle of the ovary. 

 The significance of this fact will be discussed in a later section 

 of the paper (p. 12). 



The line of reflection of the dorsal ligament from the body 

 peritoneum runs in a cranial direction a little to the left of the 

 median line of the body from the caudal end of the abdominal 



