FEMALE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS 331 



ligaments, a pair of folds of peritoneum sus- 

 pending them from the dorsal wall of the 

 abdomen. 



The anterior ends of the Fallopian tubes 

 form wide, membranous, funnel- shaped mouths, 

 lying along the outer sides of the ovaries, and 

 attached to their anterior ends. 



ii. The uteri, which are continuous with the pos- 

 terior ends of the Fallopian tubes, are a pair 

 of thick- walled tubes, which vary enormously 

 in size according to the presence or absence of 

 embryos, and the stage of their development. 

 The two uteri open by separate apertures into 

 the anterior end of the vagina. 



iii. The vagina is a very wide median tube, com- 

 mencing a little in front of the crests of the 

 ilia, and extending straight back to unite, 

 within the pelvic cavity, with the neck of the 

 bladder, forming the vestibule. 



c. The vestibule or urine-genital canal is a wide 



median tube, commencing opposite the hinder 

 end of the obturator foramen, and running back 

 through the pelvic cavity, ventral to the rectum, 

 to the vulva. It has very vascular walls, and 

 corresponds to the corpus spongiosum in the male. 



d. The clitoris is a small rod-like body, corresponding 



to the penis of the male, and lying in the anterior 

 or ventral wall of the vestibule, just within its ex- 

 ternal opening. It ends in a soft conical body, the 

 glans clitoridis, and is connected with the ischia 

 by two corpora cavernosa similar to those of the 

 male, but of smaller size. 



e. Cowper's glands are small, and lie on the dorsal wall 



of the vestibule, opposite the hinder border of the 

 pelvic symphysis. 



f. The perinseal and rectal glands are similar to those 



of the male (p. 329). 



