131 



have a remarkable deviation from the ordinary structure of this part; 

 the orifice of the vagina having nearly the šame relation to the ge- 

 nito-urinary passage as the urethra has in the Mammalia generally, 

 and the genito-urinary canai being, in consequence, a continuation of 

 the urinary bladder rather than of the uterus. This wa8 particularly 

 observed in Das. Peba ; but was less obvious in the fVeasel-headed 

 species, on account of the recent distension of the parts in partu- 

 rition. In neither species is there any os tincce betvveen the vagina 

 and uterus ; so that the limits of the two parts can only be loosely 

 defined by difFerence in diameter, and in the character of the lining 

 merabrane. in the Weasel-keaded species, some of the muscular fibres 

 had apparently been ruptured in parturition ; for on injecting the parts 

 with spirit, the external cellular texture was distended at the con- 

 tracted part of the uterine canal, evidently with a force insufficient 

 to have ruptured the coats without previous lesion. At this part there 

 were numerous jagged longitudinal ruga ; two or three of which 

 were continued along the vagina, but the interior of the uterus 

 beyond was smooth. There was a difference of form in the uterus of 

 the two species. In Das. Peba it is of an oval form, the/Mnduj>ending 

 almost in a point, and the Fallopian tubes are continued from the 

 sides of thefundus withoui any appearance of cornua ; but in Das. 6- 

 cinctus the uterus is triangular, thefundus formingastraight linCj and 

 the angles being produced a little, so as to form rudimentary cornua, 

 from which the Fallopian tubes are continued. These tubes in both 

 the species wound round the capsules of the ovaries, and terminated 

 in the usual fimbriated extremities directed tovvards the ovary. The 

 breadth of the base of the uterus in the Weasel-headed Armadilio was 

 1 inch, 1 line ; from ih&fundus to the opening of the vagina into the 

 genito-urinary canal, 2 inches. The ovaries were transversely oval, 

 measuring 3 lines by 1|. The Fallopian tubes became tortuous to- 

 wards the extremity. 



" In the absence of distinction betvveen the uterus and vagina, 

 and in the raode of communication of vvhat may be considered a single 

 elongated uterine tube with the genito-urinary canal, may be ob- 

 served the first traces of that approsimation to the oviparous type 

 of the genital organs vvhich peculiarly characterizes the Marsupial 

 Edentata. 



" The urinary bladder in the adult female was an oval cavity about 

 the size of a pigeon's egg ; its coats \vere tolerably thick. The ure- 

 ters open close to the orifice, and very near together} a distinct 

 groove or channel commences between the two orifices, and is con- 

 tinued into the narrovv canal for about 2 lines, and then terrainates 

 on a ridge analogous to the verumontanum. The length of the urethra 

 is 5 lines. 



" The cceca in this individual were of equal size, half an inch in 

 length, and the šame in breadth ; their relation to the ilium and the 

 structure of the ileo-caecal orifice were the šame as in the young malė. 



" The pancreas vvas of large size, measuring in length 4į inches ; 

 a broad process, or subsidiary pancreas, extended from the duodenal 

 end of the gland downwards into the mesentery, which confined the 



