UGAMENTS OF OVIDUCT OF DOMESTIC FOWL. 5 



cavity, to the caudal end of the anterior lobe of the left kidney. 

 At this point it turns slightly in a lateral direction, crossing 

 diagonally the anterior lobe of the kidney. It continues in this 

 direction to the fourth thoracic rib. This line of reflection is 

 the dorsal margin of the ligament. The ligament begins to turn 

 laterally at the level of the oviduct where the dorsal margin of 

 the tubular portion of the duct passes into the anterior elonga- 

 tion of the funnel. Towards the cranial end of the dorsal liga- 

 ment the distance between its attachment to the dorsal body 

 wall, on the one hand, and to the funnel on the other hand, 

 becomes gradually shorter. At the fourth thoracic rib the mar- 

 gin of the funnel itself is attached to the body wall. Thus the 

 attachment of the funnel to the dorsal ligament forms the cranial 

 margin of that ligament. Its ventral margin is its attachment 

 to the tubular portion of the duct. Its caudal margin is its line 

 of reflection from the peritoneum covering the caudal wall of 

 the abdominal cavity.* 



The relation of dorsal ligament and anterior elongation of 

 the funnel of the oviduct to the abdominal air sac needs men- 

 tion. At a point shghtly mediad of the lateral margin of the 

 kidney the line of reflection of the ligament reaches the part of 

 the body wall to which the lateral margin of the abdominal sac 

 is attached. From this point to the fourth thoracic rib the liga- 

 ment and the anterior elongation of the funnel pass between the 

 sac and the body wall. The elongation of the funnel projects 

 into the sac and is surrounded by a fold of its wall. Usually 

 even in young chicks this fold in the wall of the air sac is fused 

 to the ligament. In some individuals the sac can be stripped 

 off leaving the anterior elongation of the funnel suspended by 

 the dorsal ligament. 



In most cases these simple relations of the dorsal ligament 

 exist essentially as described in just hatched or very young 

 chicks. In some individuals at hatching, however, and in all 

 cases examined at maturity, the peritoneum of the ligament is 

 fused in certain places with the peritoneum of the air sac and 

 mesentery. One such region of fusion has been described in 



* In an adult lien the connective tissue core of the dorsal ligament ex- 

 tends through the layer of fat between the peritoneum and the caudal 

 wall muscles. In this the ureter, blood vessels and nerves continue 

 caudad. 



