130 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I9I4. 



ternal secretion of the ovary has not been completely demon- 

 strated by any means. Certain observations made in connec- 

 tion with other researches make the conclusion somewhat doubt- 

 ful. They certainly show that enlargement of the oviduct is 

 not necessarily connected with yolk formation although this is 

 the normal relation. 



The observations referred to are : 



1. The oviduct of the hermaphrodite fowl described by 

 Pearl and Curtis * was at autopsy in essentially the same con- 

 dition as that of a normal fowl that had recently completed or 

 was soon to begin an egg laying period. Yet this bird had never 

 laid and the histological examination of the ovary failed to 

 demonstrate the presence of oocytes in any stage of develop- 

 ment. The ovary of this bird was about the size of a function- 

 ing ovary after the large yolks have been removed. It was com- 

 posed of a highly cellular stroma like tissue penetrated from 

 the stalk by a very vascular connective tissue and covered ex- 

 ternally by a layer of peritoneum. The presence of interstitial 

 cells could not be demonstrated, but this may have been due 

 to poor fixation. t 



2. In the routine autopsy work in this laboratory there has 

 been noted several cases of birds which had not laid for a 

 long time and which had no oocytes with any yolk but which 

 possessed nearly functional sized oviducts. There were in 

 these cases ovarian tumors which seemed here to be associated 

 with the enlarged oviducts. None of these ovaries were exam- 

 ined for interstitial cells which may or may not have been 

 present. 



That the mere increase in weight of the ovary may stimu- 

 late the enlargement of the oviduct is not altogether impossible. 

 These pathological ovaries may however have furnished the 

 normal internal secretion in quantities sufficient to cause the 

 enlargement of the oviduct. It is nevertheless certain that 

 whatever the stimulus may be it is not absolutely dependent 



* Pearl, E., and Curtis, M. R. Studies in the Physiology of Reproduc- 

 tion of the Domestic Fowl. A Case of Incomplete Hermaphroditism. 

 Biol. Bui., Vol. XVII, pp. 271-286, 1909. 



t The whole reproductive apparatus ^and the dorsal part of the body 

 was preserved in formalin and dissected for anatomical study. The his 

 tological sections of this formalin tissue showed rather poor fixation. 



