of Edinburgh , Session 1875 - 76 . 107 
Scattered over the surface of the mucosa in the more distended 
part of the cornu were numerous smooth, depressed, circular or 
ovoid spots, the largest of which was not more than ~th inch in 
diameter, though as a rule they were less than -j^th inch; so that to 
the naked eye they were apt to escape observation. Each spot was 
surrounded by a minute fold of the mucosa, sub-divided into crypts. 
On an average from twenty-five to thirty of these spots were found in 
each square inch. They resembled the smooth depressed spots de- 
scribed by myself* and some other anatomists in the uterine mucosa 
of the gravid pig. On the surface of the chorion adapted to this part 
of the mucosa, occasional smooth patches from -Ayth to-^th inch in 
diameter were seen surrounded by villous tufts which were in 
apposition with the smooth depressed spots on the mucosa, but 
they had not the definite stellate form which one sees on the 
chorion of the pig. The extra-villous layer of capillaries ramified 
beneath these non-villous spots of the chorion. In the succulent 
parts of the mucosa the smooth depressed spots could not be seen 
with the naked eye, but only after a careful search with a pocket 
lens were they found at the bottom of some of the trenches or pits 
in the membrane. 
From the general resemblance between these spots and those 
met with in the uterine mucosa of the pig, one was naturally 
inclined to think that they, would have a relation to the mouths of 
the utricular glands. I proceeded, therefore, to examine the glan- 
dular layer of the mucosa. The glands were very numerous, and 
branched repeatedly. Many of the branches formed short diver- 
ticula, others were much longer; sometimes they were tortuous, at 
others a considerable length of straight gland tube could be seen. 
In the deeper part of the mucosa the glands lay almost parallel to 
the surface; but as they approached the crypts, they were directed 
more obliquely, so as to be frequently divided in vertical sections. 
The glands were subjacent not only to the crypts, but to the smooth 
depressed spots, numerous examples of which I carefully examined. 
In one instance, I saw a tube lined by epithelium lying obliquely 
beneath the membrane of a spot, and opening near the middle by a 
distinct orifice bounded by a crescentic fold of the membrane. In 
* “Journal of Anatomy and Physiology,” Oct. 1875. Also Lectures on the 
Comparative Anatomy of the Placenta, Edinburgh, 1876. 
