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
Lemuridæ. The Lemurs in spite of their affinities with the Primates
and Insectivora have, as has been shewn by Milne Edwards and Turner,
an apparently very different form of placenta. There is only one
embryo, which occupies the body and one of the cornua of the uterus.
The yolk-sack disappears early, and the allantois (Turner) bulges out
into a right and left lobe, which meet above the back of the embryo.
The cavity of the allantois persists, and the mesoblast of the outer
wall fuses with the subzonal membrane (the hypoblastic epithelium
remaining distinct) to give rise to the chorion.
On the surface of the chorion are numerous vascular villi, which fit
into uterine crypts. They are generally distributed, though absent at
the two ends of the chorion and opposite the os uteri. Their
distribution accords with Turner's diffused type. Patches bare of
villi correspond with smooth areas on the surface of the uterine
mucosa in which numerous utricular glands open. There is no reflexa.
Although the Lemurian type of placenta undoubtedly differs from that
of the Primates, it must be borne in mind that the placenta of the
Primates may easily be conceived to be derived from a Lemurian form of
placenta. It will be remembered that in Man, before the true placenta
becomes developed, there is a condition with simple vascular villi
scattered over the chorion. It seems very probable that this is a
repetition of the condition of the placenta of the ancestors of the
Primates which has probably been more or less retained by the Lemurs.
It was mentioned above that the resemblance between the metadiscoidal
placenta of Man and that of the Cheiroptera, Insectivora and Rodentia
is rather physiological than morphological.
_Comparative histology of the Placenta._
It does not fall within the province of this work to treat from a
histological standpoint the changes which take place in the uterine
walls during pregnancy. It will, however, be convenient to place
before the reader a short statement of the relations between the
maternal and foetal tissues in the different varieties of placenta.
This subject has been admirably dealt with by Turner (No. 222), from
whose paper fig. 161 illustrating this subject is taken.
The simplest known condition of the placenta is that found in the pig
(B). The papilla-like foetal villi fit into the maternal crypts. The
villi (_v_) are formed of a connective tissue cone with capillaries,
and are covered by a layer of very flat epithelium (_e_) derived from
the subzonal membrane. The maternal crypts are lined by the uterine
epithelium (_e´_), immediately below which is a capillary flexus. The
maternal and foetal vessels are here separated by a double epithelial
layer. The same general arrangement holds good in the diffused
placentæ of other forms, and in the polycotyledonary placenta of the
Ruminantia, but the foetal villi (C) in the latter acquire an
arborescent form. The maternal vessels retain the form of capillaries.
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