FEMALE ORGANS OF RODENTIA. 687 



ib. c, c', passes outward a short way beyond the ovary, then sud- 

 denly bends back toward the uterus, /: it is unravelled in fig. 

 772, A. The natural disposition of the efferent canals in the un- 

 impregnated state are shown in fig. 540. The uterine tubes, e, f, 

 are united for a short distance by areolar and serous tissue at y ; 

 but open separately into the vagina, as shown by the styles, A, i. 

 The longitudinal and circular layers of the muscular coat are as 

 well marked as in Marsupials ; but the inner coat has a different 

 and lower structure : it is more homogeneous, and adheres closely 

 to the muscular coat : its inner surface is more or less wrinkled, 

 and is minutely porous, the orifices being those of the irregular 

 canals called ' utricular glands,' exuding fluid, and lined by the 

 formified particles or ' cells,' which likewise adhere to the free 

 surface of the uterine lining. This, when injected, presents a fine 

 reticulate structure, with a similar disposition of the superficial 

 capillaries. Xear the distal end of the true vagina, are two small 

 semilunar folds, with their concavity directed toward the tiro- 



V 



genital passage. This is long in Leporidce and a few other 

 Rodents: its commencement is indicated, where valvular limits 

 are wanting, by the opening of the urethra, ib. d: it terminates 

 close to the vent in all Rodents ; and, in the Hare, on the same 

 nude patch of skin on each side of which is the glandular bag, q. 

 The f preputium clitoridis ' opens just within the verge of the 

 urogenital outlet : the clitoris commences by two crura, and ter- 

 minates by a flattened bifid glans. In the Capybara the urethra, 

 terminates close to the vulva, and a groove is continued to the 

 preputium clitoridis, which projects externally. In many Ro- 

 dents (Arvicola, Lagostomus, Bathyergus) the clitoris is per- 

 forated by the urethral canal. In the Squirrel the vulva is a 

 longitudinal slit upon a conical prominence or 'peak:' in the 

 Porcupine the vulva is a thick semilunar prominence, puckered 

 up internally into longitudinal folds, and opening immediately 

 below the vent. The urethra and preputium clitoridis are close 

 to- the vaginal outlet. 



The human uterus repeats, as an anomaly, the grade of con- 

 centrative development attained by those Rodents in which 

 a short common cavity or ' corpus ' intervenes between the 

 cornua and the vagina, as in the instance, fig. 541, given by 

 ARTHUR FARRE in his masterly Article ' On the Uterus and 

 its Appendages, 1 



385. In Insectivora. In some of these Lissencephala, as in 



1 CCXLVI". p. 680. 



