DEVELOPMENT OF CAHNIVORA. 



18 



the maternal placenta or serotine decidua is present, and can 

 be separated as a distinct layer. 1 The mucous layer of the 

 allantois expands from the uterine extremity of the umbilical 

 cord upon the vascular layer (chorion or exochorion), forming 

 broad duplicatures about the allantoic vessels outside ; the trunks 



578 



Foetus with membrane and placenta, Cat. cxxn'. 



of these are in the free margins of the folds, and at the opposite 

 margins the folds of the non-vascular layer of allantois recede and 

 spread over the vascular layer or chorion, to which they cohere. 

 The vitellicle, d, extends into the pointed horns, f, f, between 

 amnion and placenta, at right angles to the latter : it is attached 

 by a slender pedicle, g, to a loop of small intestine : it usually 

 contains a yellowish liquid, with some small loose fimbriate pre- 

 cipitates. In the amniotic liquid crumbs of meconium occur to- 

 ward the end of gestation. The navel-string is very short. The 

 Cat is in heat, for about ten days, before she is a year old ; and 

 is prolific to the ninth year: bringing forth at least twice a year 

 in the wild state, and three or four times in domesticity. The 



1 xx. vol. v. p. 141, no. 3565. 



