The Morphology of the Seminiferous Tubules of Mammalia

At the Cleveland meeting of the American Association of Anatomists, (1912-1913), Curtis1 reported on wax plate reconstructions of the seminiferous tubules of the white mouse, presenting figures of a model of an entire tubule having an actual length of somewhat over 13 em. The tubule completely reconstructed presents the form of an arch, the two ends of the arch lying in close proximity, each terminating 'n a tubulus rectus attached to the rete testis. In the course of the very thorough study which must of necessity be given to the series of sections in the preparation of drawings on which the reconstruction is based, it became evident that the testis in question contained no seminiferous tubules terminating in blind ends, and that anastomosis between tubules was very limited. Only one branching tubule was disclosed and on graphic reconstruction of this tubule it was found that each of the three branches terminated at the rete testis in tubuli recti. In the entire series of sections of the testis in question there were found but thirty-three tubuli recti, from which it appears that this testis contains but sixteen tubules, one of which is branched and terminates, as above stated, in three tubuli recti. These results, which are so at variance with the usual conception of the form and course of the mammalian seminiferous tubule, made it desirable to extend these observations to other forms, to determine whether the findings in the mouse testis would admit