PRACTICAL CRYPTORCHID CASTRATION 51 



fingers from the abdominal viscera, which can be 

 felt more or less clearly. This thin membrane 

 consists of two chief parts or layers. These are, 

 first, the general fascial lining of the abdomen, 

 which is often designated as the transversalis 

 fascia and is spread out as a lining of the entire 

 abdomen and pelvis, and, second, the peritoneum. 

 In the animal with the testicle undescended the 

 internal ring is not an opening or a slit as it is 

 sometimes said to be but it is merely a thin- 

 ned-out area of the above mentioned transver- 

 salis fascia, this area being bordered and limited 

 in front and below by an arched band of con- 

 nective tissue which, after the descent of the 

 testicle through the fascia at this point, forms 

 the true ring. The upper and posterior borders 

 of the thinned-out area of the fascia have no 

 limiting band of fibers and, as a matter of fact, 

 in the ridgling the area is not defined at all in 

 these two directions. (The anatomical facts may 

 be beautifully demonstrated by a dissection of a 

 seven or eight-months* fetus.) Consequently, the 

 operator, in searching for the internal ring, does 

 not feel for a slit-like opening, but searches for a 



