540 THE RABBIT CHAP. 



The terminal part of the urethra traverses the copulatory 

 organ or penis ; that part of its wall which in the retracted 

 condition is dorsal, is constituted by a soft vascular portion, 

 the corpus spongiosum (c. s), while the opposite surface is 

 strengthened by two harder bodies, the corpora cavernosa 

 (c. t), which are closely applied together through the greater 

 portion of their length, but diverge proximally and are 

 attached to the ischia. 



In both sexes a pair of perineal glands (p. gl) open on the perineal 

 spaces (p. 486) at the sides of the penis, and two larger rectal glands 

 (r. gl} lie at the side of the rectum. 



In the female the ovaries (Figs. 135 and 145, ov) are small, 

 ovoid bodies attached by peritoneum to the dorsal wall of 

 the abdomen behind the kidneys, the ovarian follicles or 

 ovisacs (p. 195) forming very small, rounded projections on 

 their outer surface. 



The oviducts, instead of remaining separate along their 

 whole length, are fused proximally to form a wide, median 

 portion, the vagina (Figs. 144 B and 145, va\ opening 

 into the urinogenital canal or vestibule (vb\ with 

 which the bladder communicates and which opens ex- 

 ternally at the vulva (Fig. 144 B, u. g. a). Into the other or 

 distal end of the vagina, the paired, thick-walled uteri (Fig. 

 145, r. ut, /, ut\ or middle portions of the oviducts, open by 

 separate thick-walled apertures. The eggs undergo develop- 

 ment in the uteri, which vary in size according to whether 

 or not they contain embryos, and according to the stage of 

 development of these. Each uterus is continued forwards as 

 a narrow, slightly coiled tube the anterior section of the 

 oviduct, or Fallopian tube (fl. /), which communicates with 

 the ccelome by a small aperture (fl. t f ) surrounded by a 

 wide, membranous funnel with thin walls and folded margins, 



