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 Felidse, 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 Hyaena. 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 vesiculse 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 vesiculae 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 tlie 

 prostate has a more sudden projection at its upper end tliau I have observed in 

 the musteline animals that I have dissected. The absence of the vesiculae semi- 

 nales is then a constant character of the true Carnivora. 



