PACHYDERMATA. 



873 



ihe orifices of the inferior and left superior 

 cavae, present, in addition to the inferior portion 

 usually met with, the rudiment of a superior 

 division of the valve, extending from the pos- 

 terior aspect of the orifice of the superior cava. 

 A similar arrangement is met with in the Por- 

 cupine and other Rodents. 



Urinary organs. In the young ajiimals the 

 kidneys are separated into several lobes by very 

 deep sulci, but in the adults this tabulated 

 appearance is in a great degree obliterated. In 

 other respects the renal apparatus, ureters, and 

 bladder have nothing peculiar in their structure 

 or disposition. 



Generative organs (male). In the structure 

 of the external generative apparatus of the 

 male Elephant, the principal feature worthy of 

 remark is the existence of two special muscles 

 destined to the retraction of the organ after its 

 erection, an arrangement which is frequently 

 rendered necessary in consequence of its enor- 

 mous size in that animal, which is stated to be 

 proportionately greater than in any other quad- 

 ruped. These muscles arise from the anterior 

 part of the os pubis on each side of the penis, 

 and uniting at a little distance from their origin 

 form a common tendon, which runs in a groove 

 along the dorsum of the penis to be inserted 

 into the glans. The action of these muscles 

 will of course be to retract the member into its 

 sheath after erection or after the discharge of 

 urine, which requires a kind of semi-erection, 

 precisely as is the case in the Horse. The 

 other muscles connected with the generative 

 apparatus agree exactly with those met with in 

 the generality of quadrupeds, from which they 

 only differ in size; these are the accc leratores 

 win< and the transversales perincei. 



The corpora cavernosa, besides the mesial 

 tendinous septum between them, are traversed 

 by strong secondary septa derived from the 

 external envelope, which is of great thickness 

 in proportion to the enormous size of the organ. 



The verumontanurn, the prostates, Cowper's 

 gland, the vasa deferentiu, and the vesicuhe 

 seminales occupy their usual positions, and have 

 nothing remarkable in their structure or ar- 

 rangement. 



The testes of the Elephant are not contained 

 in any scrotal pouch or even lodged in the 

 groins, as has been asserted by some authors, 

 who have been deceived by the existence of 

 large glandular masses situated in the inguinal 

 regions ; but are deeply situated in the abdomen 

 in close contact with the kidneys, to which 

 they are attached by membranous prolongations 

 resembling little amenta; consequently the 

 vasa deferent ia, which are very large and tor- 

 tuous, pass immediately to their destination in 

 the commencement of the urethral canal, being 

 closely accompanied by the ureters during the 

 greater part of their course, and lying between 

 those tubes and the rectum. 



As another example of the general structure 

 of the male generative organs in Pachydermatous 

 animals, we select those of the Boar. In this 

 creature the glans penis is very long and nearly 

 cylindrical except at the extremity, where it 

 becomes of a prismatic shape ending in a point, 



which is suddenly bent upon itself. The body 

 of the penis consists of only a single cavernous 

 body, and just above the testes at about four 

 inches from the insertion of the prepuce pre- 

 sents a very singular arrangement, being bent 

 twice upon itself at intervals of about an inch, 

 so as to form at this place a close 'sigmoid 

 curve ; it is flattened for the greater part of its 

 length, but becomes rounded and thinner in 

 the neighbourhood of the glans. The testicles 

 are very large, and the epididymis of each 

 upwards of an inch in length. The vesicula? 

 seminales are very extensive, occupying their 

 usual position near the termination of the vasa 

 deferentia. The prostates reach from the vesi- 

 culae seminales as far as the ejaculator muscles, 

 lying on each side of the urethra. Each pros- 

 tate, moreover, is covered externally by a layer 

 of muscular fibre, which is one or two lines in 

 thickness. 



In the American Tapir, according to Pro- 

 fessor Owen, the testes are elongated glands 

 four inches in length, situated externally in a 

 slightly indicated scrotum at the distance of six 

 inches from the anus. The cremaster is remark- 

 ably powerful, being composed of a strong- 

 fasciculus of fibres continued from the lower 

 margin of the internal oblique muscle, of up- 

 wards of one inch in breadth. The tunica 

 vaginalis has, as usual, a free communication 

 with the cavity of the abdomen. The penis, 

 which is of great length, is not furnished with 

 levator muscles, but is supported by a quantity 

 of elastic cellular membrane, which extends 

 from the abdominal muscles along the dorsum 

 penis. 



Generative organs (female). These present 

 the arrangement usually met with in quadrupeds 

 furnished with a cornuted uterus, the relative 

 size of the uterine apparatus varying in propor- 

 tion to the fecundity of each genus. 



The only description of the female generative 

 organs of the Elephant with which we are ac- 

 quainted is the following, given by M. Perrault 

 of the parts of one dissected by him in the 

 menagerie of Versailles, many points of which 

 are sufficiently remarkable. That anatomist 

 describes the vulva as being placed almost 

 in the middle of the belly, at a distance of 

 more than two feet from the place where it is 

 usually situated in other animals. The clitoris 

 extended all along this space beneath the 

 vagina and was two inches in diameter, so 

 that, although covered by the skin of the 

 abdomen, it was so apparent as to have been 

 always mistaken for a penis, and the animal 

 was in fact considered to be a male until dis- 

 section revealed the mistake. 



The vagina extended backward from the 

 vulva to the pubis in a contrary direction to 

 that which it takes in other animals, and at the 

 pubis it formed an angle about the middle of 

 its length, so that the second half ran forward 

 in the usual manner: its lining membrane was 

 very smooth. The edges of the orifice of the 

 womb extended into the vagina for the length 

 of two inches, the neck of the uterus being, as 

 it were, closed by two sigmoid valves, so dis- 

 posed, according to JYIons. Perrault, to prevent 



