Zoological Society. 137 
rative and odoriferous organs are the most remarkable. There is no 
true musk-bag, simply the two secerning pouches situated one on each 
side the anus, which are so common among the carnivora. In addition 
to these, there is at the base of the prepuce, an oval, flat, naked space, 
which is not simply a secreting surface, as stated by Mr. Gray in a 
paper contributed to the Proceedings a few years back, but contains 
a number of minute orifices, each opening into a somewhat cylindrical 
glandular sac: these are arranged vertically side by side, and, toge- 
ther with the anal pouches, secrete the substance which imparts to 
the animal its characteristic odour. The generative organs are alto- 
gether very largely developed; the prostate is large, of a slightly 
lobulated form, and the urethra passes obliquely through its centre. 
Cowper’s glands, whose presence is characteristic of the Felide, are 
remarkably large, causing a prominence externally posterior to the 
scrotum ; and, as usual in the family, each is surrounded by a power- 
ful muscular envelope, which is at least an eighth of an inch in thick- 
ness ; the fibres converge to a tendinous portion, which extends, from 
the point where the duct issues, some distance on each side of the 
gland ; the size of these organs altogether is about equal to that of 
the testes. The length of the penis, from the orifices of Cowper’s 
duct to the meatus urinarius, is a little more than three inches ; it is 
perfectly flexible in every part, and therefore the os penis must be 
either very minute or wanting; this is another feline character, since 
in the Bears and Weasels, as well as in the Dogs, the bone forms a 
considerable part of the organ. The glans is cylindrical, it tapers a 
little for about six-tenths of an inch, then terminates suddenly in a 
small conical point, in the groove around the base of which is situated 
at the lower part the urethral orifice. The body of the glans has a 
slight median groove beneath, and its whole surface is covered with 
horny spines directed backwards. Cuvier, who alludes to a similar 
peculiarity in the Cats, makes no mention of it, either in the Ichneu- 
mon, the Civet, or the Hyzena. Its existence is therefore an interest- 
ing mark of affinity between two genera apparently so dissimilar, al- 
though, from its inconstancy, it will not serve as a character of the 
family. In the Paradoxurus the spines are minute, very numerous, 
and regularly distributed *. 
The same organs in the Jerboa present some peculiarities worthy 
of notice. I will observe, in addition to what has before been described, 
that Cowper’s glands are each curved upon itself in a manner similar 
to the vesiculze seminales. The two sharp-pointed bony stylets with 
which the upper part of the glans is armed, and which have been 
mentioned by authors, arise about the middle of the dorsum of the 
glans, one on each side of a prominence of its substance ; they are 
* Since the above was written, I have received the body of a male Coatimondi. 
I alluded to that animal in my former paper, as being placed by Cuvier among the 
list of those possessing the vesicule seminales, which, I observed, required con- 
firmation. I can now assert that they do not exist; the walls of the vasa defe- 
rentia are swollen immediately before these vessels enter the urethra, and the 
prostate has a more sudden projection at its upper end than I have observed in 
the musteline animals that I have dissected. The absence of the vesiculz semi- 
nales is then a constant character of the true Carnivora. 
