THE SOUTHERN SEA LION 137 



The uterus is bicornuate and the lumina of the horns are discrete for almost their 

 entire length uniting at a point only 2 or 3 cm. from the os uteri. In no. 477 they do not 

 unite at all but enter the vagina by separate apertures. The external walls of the cornua 

 unite in the middle line about the middle of their length. 



The following description and measurements are taken from the reproductive system 

 of no. 475, which was a large animal (see Plate XXX). 



The abdominal aperture of the Fallopian tube is situated laterally and dorsally with 

 reference to the ovary ; it is of small size and surrounded 44S 432 475 



by the delicate and irregular fimbria which, although \ 



somewhat extensively adherent to the interior of the 

 ovarian capsule, may, in places, have a free height of 

 1 -5 cm. ; but as has been said it is very irregular in form. 

 The abdominal aperture readily admits a blunt seeker 

 but the uterine end of the tube is too small to allow this. 

 The tube follows a tortuous course in the wall of the 

 capsule ventral to the ovary, turning eventually in a 

 dorsal direction and bending slightly towards the middle 

 line before opening into the uterus by a funnel-shaped Fig 3 Diagram of rig ht ovaries of 



mouth. The length of the Fallopian tube is about 21 cm., 446, 432, 475, showing relative in- 



r . . .,, crease from non-parous to multi- 



but owing to its sinuous form it is not possible to parous condition. 



measure it with precision. 



The right cornu of no. 475 is 27-5 cm. in length and the mucosa is deeply folded 

 longitudinally; but in a non-parous animal the folds were less deep. At a distance of 

 about a centimetre from the aperture of the Fallopian tube the wall of the cornu, 

 excluding the mucous membrane, is 0-25 cm. thick, and at a similar distance from the 

 junction of the cornua the thickness is about 1 cm. The common part of the uterus is 

 only 3-1 cm. in length, little more than the length of the cervix, which projects into the 

 vagina for a distance of 2-2 cm. and is curved sharply downwards so that the os uteri 

 opens almost ventrally. 



The vagina is 8 cm. long from the sulcus which surrounds the cervix uteri to the 

 hymeneal fold which separates the vagina from the vestibule. Its walls are smooth and 

 almost devoid of longitudinal folding, thus contrasting with both the cornua and the 



vestibule. 



The hymeneal fold is a structure which runs round the wall of the passage and is 

 reminiscent of the folds found in a corresponding site in Balaenoptera. Its maximum 

 height in no. 475 is 2 mm. 



The vestibule is 4-9 cm. in length and terminates at the level of the clitoris where the 

 integument begins to show signs of pigmentation, but there is an almost complete 

 absence of hairs for another 4 cm. when the sharply marked edge of the coat is reached. 

 The vestibule contains the urethral aperture, which is about 5 mm. long and situated 

 on a papilla slightly to the right of the middle line and rather more than a centimetre 

 from the hymeneal fold. 



