The Maellerian Ducts 33 



comes sharply accentuated, so that almost the entire organ 

 rests anterior to its ligamentous attachments to the ab- 

 dominal parietes. In the cow and ewe, the broad ligaments 

 become largely powerless in preventing the pregnant organ 

 from revolving upon its long axis, so that torsion of the 

 uterus becomes quite common, while in the mare the more 

 rigidly fixed organ, with the anterior parietal attachment 

 of the ligament much farther forward, serves to render the 

 displacement comparatively rare. In ruminants, the com- 

 parative amplitude of the ligaments, with their anterior 

 point of parietal attachment but little anterior to the pelvic 

 inlet, permits more readily than in other animals inversion 

 and prolapse of the uterus and vagina. 



In multiparous animals the broad ligaments are neces- 

 sarily very extensive and uniformly have their anterior 

 point of attachment to the abdominal walls far forward in 

 the post-renal' region. In the bitch, the ligament at its an- 

 terior border is very short, so that the ovary and ovarian 

 end of the cornu are closely fixed in the sublumbar region, 

 just posterior to the kidney, tending to stretch the cornu be- 

 tween this anterior, sublumbar attachment and the vagina. 

 The ligaments are exceedingly ample, except at the anterior 

 border, and are much broader than the distance from the 

 parietal attachments to the position of the cornu, resulting 

 in a large antero-posterior fold in the ligament, which drops 

 down on the lateral side of the cornu and covers it in a 

 double fold of broad ligament (Fig. 14). Unlike other do- 

 mestic animals, the broad ligaments of the bitch are uni- 

 formly the seat of extensive deposits of fat, which cause 

 them to resemble the gastric omentum in general ap- 

 pearance. 



c. The cervix, or neck of the uterus, consists of a power- 

 ful, sphincter-like segment of the genital tract, serving to 

 separate anatomically and physiologically the uterus from 

 the vagina. It is continuous anteriorly with the uterine 

 body and posteriorly with the vagina. It is a tubular organ 

 having walls very much thicker than those of the uterus or 

 vagina and very dense and rigid. In the cow especially the 



