708 



ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES. 



the vagina, ib. va. The inner surface of the vagina presents 

 numerous close-set, transverse, often verrucose, rugae, sometimes 

 diverging from opposite longitudinal tracks, as ' columnar ruga- 

 rum,' on the fore and back parts of the walls : toward the vulval 

 end of the canal the rugae become broken up into shorter promi- 

 nences, or ' leaflets.' This part of the vagina is surrounded by a 

 s constrictor ' muscle, fig. 554, b, between which and the inner 



membrane, ib. va, there 

 is, on each side, a gland, 

 g, which sends its secre- 

 tion by the duct, d, into 

 j£he urogenital passage, 

 'between the hymen and 

 nymphae : it is called the 

 ;' vulvo-vaginal ' gland, 

 and answers to * Cow- 

 Iper's ' in the male. The 

 urogenital passage rare- 

 ly exceeds an inch in 

 length : it includes the 

 prominence or ' vesti- 

 bule,' ib. v y upon which 

 the urethra opens ; the 

 clitoris, c, with its pre- 

 putium, pc ; and the 

 pair of highly vascular 

 folds, ft, 1 continued from 

 the clitoris downward to 

 the lower boundary of 

 the passage. The vulva 

 is chiefly composed by the c labia,' ib. I (the right one has been 

 removed in the figure), which are lateral folds of tegumentary 

 and ' dartoid ' tissue, including fibrous and adipose substance. 

 The outer part is hairy skin, the inner layer is smooth, vascular, 

 pinkish in colour, and furnished with many muciparous and seba- 

 ceous follicles. Above their upper commissure is an eminence 

 of fibrous and adipose tissue, covered by integument which, at 

 the age of puberty, becomes clothed with hair. The labia are 

 homotypes of the scrotum : the clitoris is a miniature representa- 

 tion of the penis, and has its ' crura,' ' body,' ' glans,' s suspensory 

 ligament,' i erectores muscles,' and closely conformable vascular 

 structures, with the addition of large contiguous venous plexuses. 

 Its nerves are equal in size to those of the penis. 



1 These, called ' nymphse,' are of unusual length in some low varieties (Hottentot. 

 Boschismen) of the human species. 



External female parts, Human. ccxl\ 



