The MaynmcB or Udder 



35 



Its free end is lodged within a depression in the vulvar floor 

 and over it extends a mucous fold, the prepuce of the clitoris. 

 The clitoris and its prepuce are covered by a pigmented mucous 

 membrane in which the mucous glands are displaced by sebaceous 

 follicles, and the characters of the surrounding mucosa are absent. 



The clitoris is composed chiefly of erectile tissue like that of 

 the corpus cavernosum of the penis. The clitoris of the bitch, 

 like the penis of the dog, contains a small bone. 



The functions of the clitoris are not important, although it is 

 alleged to exert an influence upon sexual excitement. In our 

 observation upon a large number of sows from which the clitoris 

 had been removed by an empiric, it had no influence upon oes- 

 trum or fecundation and all bred normally. In the mare it is 

 frequently removed for the relief of nymphomaniac vice, but 

 the results are in controversy. 



7. The Mamm.^x or Udder. 



The mammae are essential organs of generation ; they are nor- 

 mally excited to activity only by parturition and constitute a 

 necessary source of nutritive supply to the new-born animal. 

 Under domestication, the activity of the milk glands has been 

 highly developed in the cow and goat to provide the important 

 food supply to man of milk and its derivatives : cream, butter 

 and cheese. 



The milk glands originate from the epiblast by an invagination 

 into the subjacent parts from which is finally elaborated the es- 

 .sential secretory structure and the excretory apparatus. 



They are located symetrically on either side of the median line 

 of the ventral surface of the body, varying in numbers approx- 

 imately in accordance with the number of young usually pro- 

 duced at a birth. Usually the number of mammae is in excess 

 of that of the young born at one time, but rarely the relation- 

 ship is reversed. 



Each mamma consists of a glandular parenchyma with excre- 

 tory ducts traversing a conical nipple or teat, from which the 

 young may obtain the secreted milk by sucking. The glands are 

 covered with a very soft, almost hairless skin, containing numer- 

 ous sebaceous follicles and are closely invested by a firm, fibro- 

 elastic capsule derived from the abdominal tunic. 



