MALE ORGANS OF RODENTS. 



G49 



505 



of the base of the penis, inclosing the two bulbs with Cowper's 

 glands and their muscles, and terminates anteriorly in a strong 

 fascia above the dorsnm penis, so as to compress against that part 

 the veiue dorsales. In all Marsupials the penis is bent upon itself 

 when passive and retracted ; with the glans concealed just within 

 the cloacal aperture, from which it emerges, as in oviparous Ver- 

 tebrates, when the penis is turgid and erect. 



371. In 7?0f/e?z^'.--Here, likewise, the penis is habitually 

 retracted out of view, being strongly bent, in many (e. g. Seiurus, 

 Castor) in a sigmoid curve, with the glans directed backward, 

 fig. 497, s, within a prepuce, which opens into, or forms part 

 of, the common passage, ib. y, e, a, in which the rectum, ib. b, 

 terminates. The testes undergo a periodical increase of size 

 and change of position, passing from the abdomen into a ses- 

 sile scrotum, and being again retracted, after the rut (except, 

 perhaps, in Leporidcc] within the abdomen. Besides Cowperian 

 there are prostatic and vesi- 

 cular glands, usually large : 

 but, again, the Leporidce 

 show their exceptional cha- 

 racter in the Order bv the 



/ 



absence of the latter. In 

 the Hare (Lcpt/.s timidus) 

 the testes make a more con- 

 spicuous prominence than 

 in other Rodents, in their 

 scrotal bags, one on each side 

 the cloacal vent, fio\ 505, a. 



J iJ 



The tunica vasdnalis retains 

 ~ 



an opening wide enough for 

 the repassage of the testis 

 into the abdomen, but it 

 adheres to the bottom of the 

 sac, the serous membrane 

 of which is there reflected 

 by a fold upon the epididy- 

 mis, fig. 505, h, i, and be- 

 ginning of the vas deferens, ib. p, q. The testes, f, g, in this 



fio-ure, have been dissected from the scrotum and tunica va^inali?. 



~ ~ 



The epididymis is extended beyond the testis, as at h, i, before 

 being reduced and reflected as ' vas deferens : ' the sperm-ducts 

 enlarge at their termination between the urinary, e, and prctome- 

 tral, <7, bladders, into the latter of which they open, very near 



V . - ' 



Male organs, Hare. cxxn'. 



