THE ORGANS OF THE MIDDLE GEEM-LAYER. 



369 



rr(S 



-odt 



of the fundament of the mesonephros at the same time. These have 

 to do •with the evolution of the Mullerian duct and the sexual organs. 



(cZ) The Mullerian Duct. 

 The Mullerian duct is a canal which is found lying at first parallel 

 and close to the mesonephric duct in the embryos of most Vertebrates 

 (Selachians, Amphibia, ReptUes, Birds, Mammals). It is a canal that 

 is established in both sexes in the same 

 manner, but subsequently acquires in each 

 a different function. It takes its origin 

 in the lower Vertebrates from the mesone- 

 phric duct, as can be most easily followed 

 in the Selachians (Semper, Balfour, 

 Hoffmann). In this case the mesonephric 

 duct becomes enlarged, acquires in cross 

 section (fig. 209 *) an oval form, and pre- 

 sents a different condition in its dorsal 

 (sd) and ventral {od) halves, the latter 

 being at the same time in immediate con- 

 tact with the peritoneal epithelium. The 

 mesonephric tubules open into the dorsal 

 half, while ventrally the wall is consider- 

 ably thickened. Then a separation of the 

 two parts takes place, which begins at a 

 little distance from the anterior end (cross 

 sections 3-1) and proceeds backward to 

 the point of opening into the hind gut. 

 Of the parts which result from the fission, 

 that which lies dorsally is the permanent 

 mesonephric duct {wd) ; it exhibits at first 

 a broad lumen and receives the urinary 

 tubules (fig. 207 st). Ventrally, between it and the epithelium of 

 the body-cavity, lies the Mullerian duct (fig. 209 od and fig. 207), 

 which is at first only a narrow passage, but later a much enlarged 

 one. In the process of fission the anterior initial part of the primary 

 canal (fig. 207 pd), which was described at p. 353 as pronephros and 

 which opens into the body-cavity by means of a cUiate funnel (o), 

 becomes a part of the latter duct, and the cUiate funnel becomes the 

 ostium abdominale tubae. 



Also in the case of the Amphibia the Mullerian duct is developed by being 

 split ofE (FtfEBRlNGBE, HOFFMANN) from the mesonephric duot, with the excep- 



24 



Fig, 209. — Four cross sections 

 through the anterior region 

 of the mesonephric duot of a 

 female embryo of Soylliuir 

 canicula, after Balfour. 



The figure shows how the Mul- 

 lerian duct (od'i is split off 

 from the mesonephric duct 

 {sd and wd). 



