THE TESTES. 399 



pierces the suspensory ligament and empties into the 

 prostatic and pelvic plexuses. The corpus spongiosum 

 commences in front of the triangular ligament as an 

 enlargement called the bulb. It incloses the urethra, 

 and lies beneath and between the two corpora cavern osa. 

 Anteriorly it becomes much expanded, and forms the 

 glans, which is applied against the anterior blunt ends of 

 the corpora cavernosa. The arteries of the penis are 

 derived from the internal pudics and are distributed to 

 the trabeculae of the corpora cavernosa and empty into 

 the sinuses. The artery of the bulb, also a branch of 

 the internal pudic, supplies the corpus spongiosum. 



THE TESTES. 



The testes are two ovoidal organs, which secrete the 

 semen ; they are developed in the abdominal cavity, 

 but about birth descend, through the contraction of a 

 fibrous structure, the gubernaculum, into the scrotum, 

 a fibro-serous pouch or bag which hangs behind 

 and below the penis. The scrotum is divided into sym- 

 metrical halves by the raphe ; the skin and underlying 

 dartos are pigmented, and present numerous short, stiff 

 hairs and sebaceous follicles ; it is thrown into a great 

 number of rugae by the contraction of the involuntary 

 muscular fibres in its structure. From the inner surface 

 of the dartos a septum is given off. which divides the 

 scrotum into two pouches, within which the testicles lie. 

 invested by the intercolumnar fascia, cremaster muscle and 

 fascia, the infundibuliform process of the transverse fascia, 

 and the tunica vaginalis. The intercolumnar fascia is a 

 thin, delicate lamina, carried in front of the testicle as it 

 passes through the external inguinal ring ; the cremaster 

 muscle and fascia are derived from the lower border of the 

 internal oblique and transversalis ; the transverse fascia 



