4l6 MAINE AGRICUI^TURAL KXPE^RIMEINT STATION. 1912. 



While the final proof as to the identity on non-identity of the 

 products of these glands must come from physiological experi- 

 ments yet some evidence as to its nature can be gained from the 

 morphology of the glands themselves. In the first place the 

 appearance of the cytoplasm in the two sets of glands is differ- 

 ent in all the sections which I have examined. In the tubular 

 glands the protoplasm always consists of much coarser granules 

 than are ever found in the epithelial cells. The most important 

 difference, however, is in their micro-chemical reactions to vari- 

 ous stains. Very few of the stains which I have used stain the 

 contents of these two sets of glands with the same intensity. 

 In the case of Heidenhain's iron-alum-haematoxylin alone, the 

 cells of the tubular glands always take a much darker stain. 

 The epithelial gland cells show a very slight haematoxylin stain, 

 unless the whoUe section is very deeply colored.. Instead the 

 epithelial cells have a yellow appearance with only the very 

 small granules dark colored. If Bordeaux red is used as a 

 counter stain this cdlors the cytoplasm of the tubular glands but 

 unless very deeply stained it does not affect the epithelial glands 

 at all. In Ehrlich-Biondi stain the granules of the tubules take 

 a dark brownish red color while the granules of the epithelium 

 are a yellowish red. In Kresylichtviolett the unicellular glands 

 stain very dark purple and stand out plainly between the ciliated 

 cells. On the other hand the tubular glands stain a very light 

 violet. Likewise with safranin the unicellular glands take a 

 very much deeper stain. The evidence at hand thus points to a 

 difference in the function of these two sets of glands. The 

 possible significance of these facts will be discussed in another 

 place. (Cf. pp. 424-425). 



SUMMARY OF SECTION ON ALBUMEN REGION. 



The bundles of muscular fibers are more sharply segregated 

 into definite layers than in the funnel. Compared with more 

 posterior regions of the oviduct the musculature of this portion 

 is very poorly developed. Evidence is given to show that con- 

 trary to the statement of Sacchi and others, the outer muscular 

 layer consists of longitudinal fibers while the inner layer con- 

 tains circular fibers. 



The walls of the albumen region are much thicker than those 

 of other parts of the oviduct. This increase in thickness is due 



