In the sheep and goat, the epithelium covering the tips of the uterine villi forms __1__ masses. These are masses of cells that lose their __2__ where they lie in contact with each other; they appear as large, multinucleate cytoplasmic masses with an outer plasmalemma. The presence of the __1__ masses creates the impression that the chorionic epithelium lies against uterine connective tissue between the masses. However, the uterine epithelium covering the masses remains intact, although it is extremely thinly stretched.