BY T, THOMSON FLYNN. 885 



from the pseudovagiual passage into the sinus. There is e\ idence 

 •of a considerable tearing and breaking of the tissues in this region. 

 Figs.ll and 12, representing sections through tliis region in the 

 ^dult, should be compared witli Figs. 6 and 7 of tl)e similar 

 regions in a well advanced pouch-young. In Figs.6 and 7, the 

 urogenital sinus is of definite contour, and the lateral vaginal 

 •canals(Mullerian ducts) are quite open, definite canals plainly to 

 be seen entering the urogenital sinus. In Figs.ll and 1'2, the 

 urogenital sinus is seen to be considerably torn and partially 

 filled with corpuscular debris. The dorsal fissure shown in Fig.l2 

 comes into direct relation, in the section, with the left vaginal 



•canal. There is also noticeable in this region a considerable 



-&' 



quantity of extravasated blood. 'J'he obliteration of the hinder 

 ends of the lateral vaginal canals, in my opinion, can only be 

 -caused by the embryos meeting them in their course backwards 

 and outwards, and actually tearing them away, or so compressing 

 them that they lose their identity. Although in the specimen, 

 the young are fairlj?- well advanced, yet tiie lateral vaginal canals 

 have not been able to regain their functional condition. Repair, 

 then, must be exceedingl}' slow, and for a considerable time after 

 parturition the lateral canals must be functionles.s, as carriers of 

 the spermatozoa. Such a condition of the lateral canals, con- 

 sequent upon parturition has, so far as I know, nevei- yet been 

 noted for an}' marsupial. 



General Remarks. — Though conclusions drawn from the result 

 of an examination of one specimen are, in many cases, apt to be 

 premature, yet Sarcophihm presents, in the morphology of the 

 female genital organs, a number of features of special interest, to 

 which it is necessarjf that attention be drawn. 



The arrangement of its female genital organs is undoubtedly 

 primitive — the presence of the per.sistent genital cord, the com- 

 plete separation, even after parturition, of the median cul-de-sacs, 

 the large and definite cloaca all prove this — but whether it is as 

 primitive as such a fo! m as Perameles, is not so capable of proof. 

 There is, on the one hand, an absence of any specialised structures, 

 -such as the lai'ger vaginal cseca of Perameles; but, on the other, 



