538 THE RABBIT CHAP. 



the tubules of which the kidney is composed (p. 146) 

 converge to open into a wide chamber or pelvis, which 

 forms the dilated commencement of the ureter. When 

 the kidney is cut across, its substance is seen to be divided 

 into a central mass or medulla and a peripheral portion 

 or cortex. The former appears radially striated, owing 

 to the tubules in this region being straight and converg- 

 ing to open on the surface of a conical process or pyramid, 

 which projects into the pelvis : the cortex contains the 

 coiled portions of the tubules and the Malpighian bodies, 

 and thus has a dotted appearance. The ureter (Figs. 135 

 and 144, ur) runs backwards along the dorsal wall of the 

 abdomen to open into the urinary bladder (u. bl, bl), a 

 pyriform sac with elastic walls which vary in thickness 

 according as the organ is dilated or contracted. Near 

 the front end of each kidney towards its inner side is a 

 small yellowish adrenal body (Fig. 135, adr, compare 



P-447)- 



In the male rabbit the spermaries are oval bodies which 

 in the young animal are situated close to the kidneys 

 on the dorsal wall of the abdomen, but which pass back- 

 wards and downwards as the animal approaches maturity 

 until they come to lie each in a scrotal sac (p. 487), situated 

 at the side of the urinogenital opening. The cavity of 

 each scrotal sac is in free communication with the cavity 

 of the abdomen by an opening the inguinal canal. A 

 convoluted epididymis (p. 466), closely adherent to the 

 spermary and connected with the distal end of the 

 scrotal sac, forms the proximal part of the spermiducl 

 or vas deferens (Fig. 144 A, v. d), which, together with the 

 blood-vessels and nerves of the spermary, passes out 

 through the inguinal canal : it then loops round the 

 corresponding ureter, and extends back between the neck 

 of the bladder and a median sac on the dorsal side of the 

 latter known as the uterus masculinus (u. m). The neck 



