296 PROFESSOR TURNER ON THE 
so as to be seen in profile, their columnar form was easily recognised. As this 
mucous membrane was not detached from the uterus along with the placenta, 
itis to be regarded as a non-deciduous serotina. 
The uterine surface of the placenta also had a ragged appearance, for the 
numerous folds of the mucous membrane had entered the placenta, and 
when it was stripped off, their torn ends were seen on its outer surface; but 
the flocculent appearance was still further increased by the free ends of the 
chorionic villi, which reached the surface. The prolongations of the mucous 
folds entered the placenta at a multitude of points in the interspaces between | 
the villi, and as they ascended to the chorion they branched repeatedly, so as 
to give investments to the branches of the villi of the chorion. These intra- 
placental prolongations of the mucosa consisted of sub-epithelial connective 
tissue, in which the maternal vessels ramified, and of an epithelium composed 
partly of columnar cells, and partly of cells, the regular columnar form of which 
had been modified into irregular polygons. These cells were larger and more 
distinct than the cells on the corresponding structures in the cat, and their 
protoplasm was so very granular as in many cases to obscure the nucleus, 
These prolongations of maternal tissue constituted a deciduous serotina. The 
shed placenta of the bitch, whilst possessing in its substance numerous prolonga- 
tions of maternal tissue,not unlike those previously described in the cat, yet differs 
from the latter animal, as has also been pointed out by Professor RoLLEston* 
in the absence of a continuous layer of deciduous serotina on its uterine aspect. 
The chorionic villi in the bitch were arborescent, and not leaf-like as in the 
cat. They terminated in short villous tufts. The umbilical arteries ended in 
a compact capillary plexus. The villi were in close contact with the epithelial 
cells investing the intra-placental prolongations of the mucous membrane. 
I may now relate some observations which I have made on the glands in 
the non-gravid uterine mucous membrane of the bitch. It is well known that 
two kinds of glands were described by Dr SHarpeyt im the uterine mucous 
membrane of this animal, viz., short, simple, unbranched tubes, and compound 
tubes having a long duct dividing into convoluted branches, both kinds opening 
close together on the surface of the mucosa. These observations were supported 
by WEBER and BiscuHorr, and generally accepted by anatomists and physiologists; 
but Professor Erco.ant, of Bologna, in his first memoir on the structure of the 
placenta,{ stated his inability to distinguish more than one kind of gland, and 
concluded that only the long tubular glands were present. I have felt it necessary, 
therefore, carefully to examine the uterine mucous membrane of the unimpreg- 
nated bitch, with reference to this question, On a surface view, the mouths of the 
* Trans. Zool. Soc. v. 1863. 
+ Baty’s Translation of Muller’s Physiology, note, p. 1576. 
t Memoire sur les Glandes Utriculaires de l’Uterus, p. 22. French Translation. Algiers, 1869. 
; 
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