FEMALE ORGANS OF MONOTREMATA. 677 



terminates by a * vulva ' distinct from the vent. The ' clitoris ' is 

 single. The variations in the efferent and subordinate parts of 

 the female organs are greater and more numerous in Mammals 

 than in other Vertebrates, and with female sexual organs are 

 associated functional mammary glands : marsupial pouches are 

 superadded in most Lyencephala. 



§ 382. In Monotremata. — The female organs here consist of 

 two ovaria, the right much smaller than the left, two oviducts, 

 two uteri, an urogenital passage, and a clitoris. 



The^aria_cor respond in situation and surrounding attachments 

 with the testes in the male; and the oviducts and uteri exhibit 

 in their closely convoluted disposition an analogy with the sperm- 

 ducts. 



The left ovary, fig. 535, f, is an irregular, semi-elliptical, 

 flattened body, with a wrinkled and granulate surface in the un- 

 excited state ; but becomes thicker, with the surface studded 

 by elevations formed by the ovisacs in different stages of develop- 

 ment, at the season of sexual excitement. At this period usually 

 two ovisacs, as in the figure, are conspicuously larger than the 

 rest, and present each a diameter of about two lines. The right, 

 ovary, f, is a narrow, thin, generally elongated body ; sometimes 

 broader, with a finely granulated surface. It is often scarcely to 

 be distinguished from the ovarian ligament to which it is attached. 

 This ligament, i, i, arises from the posterior parietes of the 

 abdomen, behind and a little on the outer side of the kidney, and 

 passes along the edge of the broad ligament to the fallopian ex- 

 tremity of the oviduct, where it divides into two ; one portion is 

 attached to the side of the ovary, the other to the posterior 

 margin of the fallopian orifice: after a course of an inch they 

 again unite, and the ligament is continued along the anterior 

 part of the uterus to its cervix, where it is insensibly lost. The 

 two separated portions of the ligament support a large pouch of 

 peritoneum, which forms the ovarian capsule ; the wide anterior 

 orifice of the oviduct is also, by means of this ligament, prevented 

 from being drawn away from the ovary. 



The efferent canal of the ovarian products is divisible into an 

 oviduct or fallopian tube, d', and an uterus, d. The size of the 

 latter is nearly equal on both sides, but the right oviduct is much 

 shorter than the left, and corresponds with the abortive condition 

 of the ovary. The external serous coat of the oviduct is loosely 

 connected to the muscular coat by filamentary processes of areolar 

 tissue, among which numerous tortuous vessels ramify. The mus- 

 cular coat is thin and compact, and is most readily demonstrable 



