8 Maine; agricultural e;xplrimlnt station. 1910. 



by the growth of the body wall from which it is suspended.* 

 In the region of the uterus the ventral margin of the dorsal 

 ligament is only a little longer than its dorsal margin. 



As a result of the growth changes which have been described 

 in detail above both the dorsal and ventral ligaments of the 

 oviduct come finally to have, in general, a fan shape. The 

 truncated apices of the two "fans" are the dorsal and ventral 

 margins of the dorsal and ventral ligaments respectively. The 

 long, outspread borders of the "fans" are represented by the 

 lines of attachment of the Hgaments to the oviduct. The ven- 

 tral ligament as a whole is strictly fan shaped. In the case of 

 the dorsal ligament only the anterior portion is spread into a 

 "fan." The fan shaped portion of the dorsal ligament is con- 

 tinuous caudad with the nearly straight portion which suspends 

 the uterus. 



The general relations of the ligaments which have been de- 

 scribed are shown in Figures 6 and 7. Figure 6 shows the 

 ventral ligament, and Figure 7 shows, besides a small portion 

 of this, about three-fourths of the dorsal ligament (D). 

 The method used in making the preparations from which these 

 photographs were taken is described in a later section of the 

 paper (p. 9). 



At the functional period the ligaments are very vascular. 

 In the region of the oviduct the large vessels break up into 

 branches which pass forward and backward on the oviduct, 

 often anastomosing with other branches either in the ligaments 

 or on the walls of the oviduct. 



Tut Musculature; of the; Ligamlnts oi^ the; Oviduct. 



Early in the study of the ligaments of the oviduct it became 

 clear that these structures contained a very considerable amount 

 of smooth muscular tissue. Special attention was then devoted 

 to a study of the character and distribution of this musculature. 



At first histological sections were employed, but large surface 

 mounts of the ligaments and adjacent oviduct walls also proved 

 very valuable in determining the origin, direction and distribu- 



* The glandular surface of the uterus is increased by the elongation of 

 the inner layers of the oviduct which are thrown into folds within the 

 peritoneum. 



