The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 3 (of 4) : $b A treatise on comparative embryology: VertebrataBalfour, Francis M. (Francis Maitland)
Science
The works of Francis Maitland Balfour, Volume 3 (of 4) : $b A treatise on comparative embryology: Vertebrata
Balfour, Francis M. (Francis Maitland)
Embryology; Zoology
The foetal membranes and the placenta of the Simiadæ (Turner, No. 225)
are in most respects closely similar to those in Man; but the placenta
is, in most cases, divided into two lobes, though in the Chimpanzee,
Cynocephalus, and the Apes of the New World, it appears to be single.
The types of deciduate placenta so far described, are usually
classified by anatomists as discoidal placentæ, although it must be
borne in mind that they differ very widely. In the Rodentia,
Insectivora, and Cheiroptera there is a (usually) dorsal placenta,
which is co-extensive with the area of contact between the allantois
and the subzonal membrane, while the yolk-sack adheres to a large part
of the subzonal membrane. In Apes and Man the allantois spreads over
the whole inner surface of the subzonal membrane; the placenta is on
the ventral side of the embryo, and occupies only a small part of the
surface of the allantois. The placenta of Apes and Man might be called
metadiscoidal, in order to distinguish it from the primitive discoidal
placenta of the Rodentia and Insectivora.
In the Armadilloes (Dasypus) the placenta is truly discoidal and
deciduate (Owen and Kölliker). Alf. Milne Edwards states that in
Dasypus novemcinctus the placenta is zonary, and both Kölliker and he
found four embryos in the uterus, each with its own amnion, but the
placenta of all four united together; and all four enclosed in a
common chorion. A reflexa does not appear to be present. In the Sloths
the placenta approaches the discoidal type (Turner, No. 218). It
occupies in Cholæpus Hoffmanni about four-fifths of the surface of the
chorion, and is composed of about thirty-four discoid lobes. It is
truly deciduate, and the maternal capillaries are replaced by a system
of sinuses (fig. 161). The amnion is close to the inner surface of the
chorion. A dome-shaped placenta is also found amongst the Edentata in
Myrmecophaga and Tamandua (Milne Edwards, No. 208).
Zonary Placenta. Another form of deciduate placenta is known as the
zonary. This form of placenta occupies a broad zone of the chorion,
leaving the two poles free. It is found in the Carnivora, Hyrax,
Elephas, and Orycteropus.
It is easy to understand how the zonary placenta may be derived from
the primitive arrangement of the membranes (_vide_ p. 240) by the
extension of a _discoidal_ placental area to a _zonary_ area, but it
is possible that some of the types of zonary placenta may have been
evolved from the concentration of a diffused placenta (_vide_ p. 261)
to a zonary area. The absence of the placenta at the extreme poles of
the chorion is explained by the fact of their not being covered by a
reflection of the uterine mucous membrane. In the later periods of
pregnancy the placental area becomes, however, in most forms much more
restricted than the area of contact between the uterus and chorion.
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