4l8 THE RABBIT. PHYLUM CHORDATA 



On the sides of the snout and round the eyes there are strong 

 tactile hairs or vibrissae which correspond to the so-called 

 ' whiskers ' of the cat. The anus and urinogenital openings are 

 separate, the latter in front of the former, in the male on the end 

 of a penis, in the female within a slit-like vulva which contains 

 in front a small clitoris corresponding to the penis. Beside the 

 penis in the male lie the scrotal sacs, into which the testes of the 

 adult descend, but there is no hanging scrotum. Along the breast 

 and belly of the female there are four or five pairs of teats on 

 which open the milk glands of the mammae. At the sides of the 

 anus are a pair of hairless depressions, into which open the ducts 

 of the perineal glands, to whose secretion is due the peculiar 

 smell of the rabbit. 



LIMBS 



There are two pairs of limbs (Fig. 331), of a type called 

 pentadactyl, with a number of jointed segments. In the fore- 

 limb or arm the proximal segment (that nearest the body) is 

 the upper arm or brachium ; articulated with this is the fore- 

 arm or antebrachium, and distally (farthest from the body) 

 is the forefoot or hand or manus. The junction between the ante- 

 brachium and the manus is made by the wrist or carpus ; beyond 

 this is the palm or metacarpus, and finally there are the fingers 

 or digits, each made up of a number of phalanges. The first 

 (inner) of these is distinguished as the thumb or pollex. As the 

 Enghsh names for the fore-limb and its parts, which are those 

 for the arm of man, are not entirely appropriate to the fore- 

 leg of a rabbit or the wing of a bird, it is generally better to use 

 the alternative Latin names, where the absurdity, though still 

 present, is shrouded in the decent obscurity of a learned language. 

 The hind-limb or leg has corresponding parts. The proximal 

 segment is the thigh or femur, though the second word is best 

 avoided in this sense, as it is more commonly used for the con- 

 tained bone, then comes the shank or crus, and distally the foot 

 or pes. The parts of the foot are the ankle or tarsus, the instep 

 or metatarsus, and the toes or digits, made up of phalanges. 

 The first digit (absent from the rabbit) is the big toe or hallux. 

 The lower side of the foot is the plantar surface or sole, that 

 of the hand the palm, but the rabbit is digitigrade, running with 

 only the tips of the digits on the ground. The digits of both fore 



