4 LÖNNBERG, ON THE FEMALE GENITAL ORGANS OF CRYPTOPROCTA, 



When describiiig the peculiar circumaiial pouch, from 

 which he derived the name Cryptoprocta, Bennett ^ says: »The 

 posterior margin of this pouch is more distant from the anus 

 than the anterior; and the anterior edge is nnited to the 

 anus by a fold of the naked skin of the ponch, forming a 

 frcenum.y^ Fig. 2 on our plate shows the mouth of this anal 

 pouch open so that the coustricted anus can be seen, and be- 

 low the same the, by Bennett described, frenum as well as 

 on either side of the latter the openings of the »anterior» di- 

 verticles of the pouch. Bennett's description is namely not 

 quite accurate or rather perhaps not complete. Under the 

 narrow frenum which connects the anus with the »anterior» 

 egde of the pouch there is a free and open passage from one 

 side to the other to a depth of about 1 cm., but then on each 

 side of the median line there extends a diverticle to an addi- 

 tional depth in a downward or ventral direction of still 1 cm. 

 or so about. — Through the partial wall which separates these 

 two lateral diverticles the urogenital canal passes from the 

 abdominal cavity to the exteriör surface which ma}^ be under 

 stood from a comparison with Fig. o (to be more fully describ- 

 ed below). — The subanal or subfrenal portion of the pouch 

 and its diverticles extend under the two roundish exteriör 

 elevations (e.) mentioned above, and as the wall under the 

 latter is not thickened they may be said to be formed by 

 the expansion of the pouch and may accordingly protrude 

 still more in the living animal. It might also be added that 

 the subfrenal pouch extends under the anus and in dorsi- 

 lateral directions on the sides of the same. The two openings 

 on each side of the frenum are elongate, but on both sides 

 bordered by valve-like lips which may be laid together so 

 that the fissures become quite closed. In such a case the 

 pouch is divided in two distinct portions, viz, the true cir- 

 cumanal pouch with its wide exteriör opening, forming a 

 säck in the bottom of which the anus opens, and the sub- 

 frenal pouch with its diverticles in different directions. — I 

 would not cut the frenum, but I do not regard it as impro- 

 bable that it contains a muscle which may protract the anal 

 opening when the animal wants to deliver its excrements. 

 The true circumanal pouch is hairy on its edges and 



1 Träns. Zool. Soc. London. Vol. I. 1835. P. 137. 



