On leaving the ovary, the posterior portion of the female duct is at first very narrow, thin-walled and translucent, the cells lightly staining, and with long cilia; the duct is here strongly distensible with the passage of eggs. A little further forward the proximal oviduct becomes thrown into a number of coils and closely convoluted, opaque white in appearance. It is here noticeably muscular, its coat of circular fibres being well developed and the epithelial lining being thrown into 4–5 longitudinal folds by cell height differences. The epithelium contains plump, ovoid gland cells, with basal nuclei and mucous contents staining lightly in haematoxylin. Ciliated cells are also present, especially at the crests of the folds, centrally constricted and with rod-like central nuclei. The posterior-most part of the coiled oviduct is of different structure from the rest, and functions as a receptaculum seminis. The epithelium here is not folded, and the cells are of one type only, regularly columnar, clear or lightly staining, with a single row of basal nuclei. A coating of close-pressed sperm heads is found attached to the distal surfaces of the cells, the tails occupying the middle of the lumen. It is presumably in this part of the duct that fertilisation takes place before the addition of glandular secretions to the egg.

The pallial oviduct runs forward immediately below the rectum. It is pale yellow in colour, thick-walled and laterally compressed, thrown into a succession of deep transverse folds which project into the lumen as ridges of the glandular wall. The epithelium is extremely regular, the gland cells tall and narrowly columnar, with basal nuclei, and with small triangular or wedge-shaped ciliated cells inserted between their tips. The character of the secretion changes about halfway along the duct. Posteriorly the cells are filled with rows of large, finely granular vesicles or spherules, each occupying the whole width of a cell, and staining light pinkish-brown with Van Gieson's. Further forward, the secretion is in little droplets, much smaller, and staining deeper purplish, with a stronger affinity for haematoxylm. The aperture of the pallial oviduct lies far forward, just below the anus, and near the opening the histology changes. The wall becomes somewhat folded by differences in the length of the cells. The ciliated cells are longer with their cilia more prominent, and the contents of the gland cells—in the basal two-thirds—are tiny refractile spherules, staining deeply black with haematoxylin.