HISTOLOGY OF THE OVIDUCT OF THE^ DOMIISTIC HE^N. 4II 



esterno." A similar statement regarding the musculature of the 

 uterus is made on pages 299-300. There is no doubt but that 

 Sacchi is wrong as to the essential nature of these muscular 

 layers. 



Since it is in this region of the oviduct that the tubular glands 

 reach their greatest development, it is thus a proper place to 

 enter into a detailed description of their form and histology. 

 The method of origin of these glands and their homology with 

 certain epithelial structures of the funnel has already been point- 

 ed out (pp. 407-408). It has also been noted that the invagi- 

 nated tubules follow very tortuous courses and often branch 

 and rebranch so that it is very difficult to follow the course of 

 a single tubule. In point of fact it is much easier to follow a 

 tubule at the beginning of the albumen portion than at any 

 other place in the oviduct. In the region of the oviduct repre- 

 sented by figure 462, it is very difficult to follow individual 

 tubules. For the purpose of learning something about the 

 length and form of the tubules, several individual glands have 

 been traced for some distance by making camera drawings from 

 a series of sections. The only adequate method of representing 

 these tubules would be by wax plate reconstructions. The point 

 in question, however, has not been deemed worth the time and 

 labor required to make such a model. Figure 462 shows that 

 there is a very large mass of tubules present. Examination of 

 the sections shows that there are relatively few openings of 

 these tubules into the lumen of the duct. From this evidence 

 alone, we might conclude that each tubule must be of consid- 

 erable length and consequently convoluted. 



The openings of the tubules are more numerous along the 

 sides and near the bottom of the large ridges. The positions 

 of these openings are marked by small indentations of the 

 epithelium. Several of these indentations can be seen in figure 

 462. These invaginations of the epithelium are of the nature of 

 short ducts which connect with the lumen of the tubule. Fig- 

 ure 465 shows the opening of one of these tubules in the albu- 

 men region. In many cases several tubules open through the 

 same duct. Such a case is shown in figure 470 from the isthmus 

 region. 



The tubular nature of these albumen secreting glands, and 

 especially the presence of openings into the lumen of the ovi- 



