1904.] MONTGOMERY — MORPHOLOGICAL SUPERIORITY. 377 



brates. But in the higher Mammals the testes move from this posi- 

 tion {descensus testiculoruui), at least periodically {Rodentia), into 

 an external sac, the scrotum ; morphologically speaking they are 

 still, however, intra-peritoneal. This is of course a change without 

 parallel in the female. But in those forms where this condition 

 obtains the female shows a structural advance which quite balances 

 the descensus testiculorum^ namely, complex mammary glands. 

 These are groups of enlarged cutaneous glands, usually with com- 

 plicated ducts of discharge \ in the male they do not advance 

 beyond the embryonic condition and are rarely functional. The 

 intromittent organ of the male attains its greatest complexity in 

 certain Teleostei^ Reptilia and the higher Mammalia, and then is 

 always more complex than its female homologue, the clitoris. But 

 in the Vertebrates it is never as complex a structure as in Insects 

 and some Mollusks, and is hardly to be considered more specialized 

 than the clitoris and vulva considered together. Special clasping 

 organs of the male are infrequent {Selachii, Anura). The female, 

 on the other hand, has in some cases brood chambers for the car- 

 riage of the young, as the pouch in the Marsupial Mammals and 

 the skin of the back in the toad Plpa ; the mouth cavity is of use in 

 the Viper for protection of the young. It is more rare for the male 

 to care for the young, and to have special structures for this pur- 

 pose, but such cases are found in the abdominal pouch of the tele- 

 ostean Sygnathidce and the oral cavity of certain Anura. 



The foregoing facts show that the genitalia of the male and 

 female are essentially alike in the Acrania and Cyclostomata. In 

 most Teleostei they are also alike, except that the male sometimes 

 possesses an intromittent organ. But in most higher forms they are 

 markedly dissimilar, and we can conclude that as a rule the female 

 is morphologically more advanced in the point of gonads, genital 

 ducts, and apparatus for the protection or nursing of the young. 

 From the standpoint of the reproductive organs the female is clearly 

 the superior. 



Most investigators of mammalian embryology explicitly hold that 

 the male represents an individual advanced beyond the condition 

 of the female. They adduce the facts that the external genitalia are 

 at first ^like in the sexes, then while the clitoris remains small the 

 intromittent organ continues to grow, and while the ovaries retain 

 their original position the testes descend into the scrotum. But 

 these are relatively small differences in comparison with the others 

 we have reviewed. 



