THE CAT. 



[CHAP. viii. 



little in front of the anal aperture. At the anterior part of the 

 vestibule is the opening of the urethra, which is continued to this 

 point from the bladder. Just in front of the external opening of 

 the urethra is a small body called the clitoris, whence two folds 

 the labia proceed backwards (surrounding the external vaginal 

 aperture), beneath which (one on each side) are two glands, called 

 those of Bertholin, the ducts of which open into the vestibule. 



The urethra of the female is thus but a very short tube. It 

 transmits the renal excretion only, the sexual excretion not passing 

 through it. The vestibule represents the prostatic part of the male 

 urethra, but there is no part answering to the spongy portion of the 

 latter. There is no such part, because the clitoris (which is the 

 rudimentary representation in the female, of the penis of the male, 

 and is similarly formed of two corpora cavernosa, a corpus 

 spongiosum and a very small ossicle) is imperforate and not 

 traversed by the urethra. 



There is no representative, in the female, of the prostate gland 

 of the male, but the "Cowper's glands" are represented by the 

 " glands of Bertholin," which have a muscular envelope like their 

 analogues in the other sex. 



There is no scrotum, because the ovaries (which are the analogues 

 of the testes) are enclosed within the abdominal cavity. Neverthe- 

 less the scrotum is represented by the labia which bound the external 

 aperture on each side. 



We now come to parts in the female which are hardly represented 

 in the male. We saw in the latter that there was a slight depres- 

 sion (the " utricle " or " sinus pocularis,") in the floor of the 

 prostatic portion of the urethra and between the entrance into it of 

 the vasa differentia. In the female, this small depression is repre- 

 sented by a deep cylindrical cavity consisting of two successive 

 parts, the vagina and the uterus, but no tubes open beside it corre- 

 sponding to the vasa differentia of the male cat. The vagina (which 

 opens posteriorly into the vestibule, while anteriorly it opens into 

 the uterus,) is formed of fibrous tissue and organic muscular fibre 

 lined with mucous membrane, with numerous papilla) and follicles, 

 and coated with squamous epithelium. Towards the vestibule its 

 muscular fibres arrange themselves as a sphincter. A few ridges 

 (nigce) extend along the length of its inner surface and terminate 

 abruptly at a transverse circular prominence (which may be a 

 distinct fold or may be almost indistinguishable) called the hymen, 

 which marks off the commencement of the vagina from the more 

 externally situated vestibule. 



The uterus (Fig. 105, ut and c) is a short muscular bag with 

 two very long, posteriorly diverging, branches or lateral continua- 

 tions the cornua which extend horizontally forwards in the 

 abdominal cavity. 



Its commencement, the os tinea 1 , projects prominently into the 

 hinder part of the vagina, and is beset with numerous short 



