Page 682. 
454 ON THE PLACENTA 
76. ON THE GRAVID UTERUS AND PLACENTA OF 
HYOMOSCHUS AQUATICUS. (Written in conjunc- 
tion with Prof. WmL1AM TuRNER, M.B., F.R.S.)* 
(Plate XXIX.) 
An adult female of Hyomoschus aquaticus having come into our hands, 
it was with no small pleasure that on eviscerating it we found it far 
advanced in pregnancy; for it enables us to give an account of the 
placenta, the nature of which has, till now, only been surmised from 
what is found in Tragulus. : 
In his valuable memoir on the Tragulide,t M. Alphonse Milne- 
Edwards briefly describes and also figures the footus with the placenta 
of Tragulus stanleyanus. He makes no mention of the uterus, of which, 
in an allied species, John Hunter tells ust that it “ soon divides into 
two horns, which are pretty large and not long, having none of the 
buttons for the cotyledons.” 
In his paper on the visceral anatomy of Hyomoschus aquaticus,§ 
Prof. Flower describes the female generative organs in the following 
words :—‘‘ The vagina was 5 inches in length; the uterus 3°5 inches 
to the point of bifurcation, sharply bent back on itself near the upper 
end, and terminated in a pair of rather short, closely curled cornua.” 
In our gravid specimen the single hairless foetus which, from tip 
of nose to end of tail, measures 8°5 inches, the tail being an inch long, 
is lodged on the left side. 
The uterus consists of two horns communicating with a common 
corpus uteri. The horns are united together in the greater part of 
their extent, not more than about 1°5 inch of the tip of each horn 
being free. The line of union is marked externally by a groove, and 
internally by a broad partition, the septum uteri, which extends longi- 
tudinally backwards and terminates in a well-defined semilunar free 
border, behind which the two horns are fused together into the common 
corpus uteri. The free ends of the cornua are curled backwards, and 
together with the Fallopian tubes and ovaries are situated upon the 
anterior part of the superior wall of the uterus. Owing to the foetus 
being developed in the left horn, this cornu is much more dilated than 
* “ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” 1878, pp. 682-6. Pl. XLIV. Read, 
June 18, 1878. 
+ “Annales des Sciences Naturelles,” 5th series, vol. ii. 1864, pp. 49-167. 
t “Essays and Observations,” edited by Prof. Owen, 1861, vol. ii. p. 135. 
§ “Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” 1867, p. 960. 
