414 MAINE AGRICUIvTURAI, EXPIjRIMENT STATION. I912. 



animation of the sections show small capillaries running every- 

 where between the tubules. 



We may next turn to a discussion of the epithelium. As 

 stated on page 401, the epithelium of the funnel region con- 

 sists of simple, ciliated, columnar cells. In all other portions of 

 the oviduct however, there are two kinds of cells present in the 

 epithelium. These are the ciliated cells and alternating with 

 these are non-ciliated unicellular glands. So far as I know no 

 one has hitherto pointed out the presence of these latter gland 

 cells in the fowl's oviduct. However, with good preparations 

 there cannot be the slightest doubt of their presence. Bela 

 ('10) describes and figures these goblet cells in the oviduct of 

 Columha, and Giacomini ('93) also described such mucine 

 glands in the oviduct of certain birds. Figures 465 and 467 

 show the epithelial portion of an actively secreting oviduct. 

 The distribution of these two kinds of cells is fairly even over 

 the entire inner surface of the oviduct. In general the ciliated 

 cells and the gland cells appear to alternate. At the point of 

 invagination of the epithelium to form the short ducts to the 

 tubules the unicellular glands appear larger and perhaps more 

 numerous. This is shown somewhat indistinctly in figure 465. 

 Many sections show this point more clearly. 



The ciliated cells are of the usual columnar type. Their gen- 

 eral appearance can be seen in figure 467. They consist of 

 finely granular protoplasm with a rather large, usually oval 

 nucleus. The nucleus nearly always lies about the middle of 

 the cell or slightly towards its distal end. The distal end of 

 the cell is armed with a large number of strong cilia. As shown 

 in figure 465 and 467,, these cells are much crowded out of shape 

 by the great development of the gland cells. In figures 470 and 

 471 the gland cells are less distended and the ciliated cells pre- 

 sent a more normal appearance. 



The epithelial gland cells are of the goblet (Becherzellen) 

 type. As stated above, they alternate with the ciliated cells. 

 The proximal portion of the cell in the actively secreting ovi- 

 duct is finely granular while the more distal portion presents an 

 alveolar structure. Whether the alveoli represent the gland 

 granules or an intergranular network, I cannot say. These cells 

 as shown in figures 465 and 467 have all the appearance of 

 being distended with secretion. In most cases they have 



