1878.] GENERATIVE ORGANS OF HY,ENA CROCUTA. 419 



Bladder and Urethra. — The bladder is regularly pyriform and of 

 small size, measuring 4 inches in length. As in the female, it passes 

 gradually into the urethra, so that it is difficult to say where the 

 one ends and the other begins. It is completely covered by peri- 

 toneum as far back as the openings of the ureters, and is attached 

 to the pelvic and abdominal walls by reflections of that membrane. 

 The ligaments thus formed are three in number, two being superior 

 and one inferior. Each superior ligament is attached by one extre- 

 mity to the superior and supero-lateral pelvic wall, and by the 

 other to the lateral aspect of the bladder. Each consists of a double 

 fold of peritoneum, in the anterior or free margin of which is placed 

 the fibrous cord formed by the obliterated hypogastric artery ; and 

 crossing the inner side of the latter from before backward as they 

 enter the pelvis are the ureter and the vas deferens, the ureter being 

 uppermost. The inferior vesical ligament is sickle-shaped, and con- 

 sists of an elongated fold of peritoneum, which extends between the 

 ventral surface of the bladder and the anterior abdominal wall as far 

 forward as the umbilicus. The ureters are remarkably thick and 

 muscular, and open into the base of the bladder half an inch from 

 the orifice of the urethra. The urethra extends from the bladder to 

 the extremity of the penis, and consists of two portions, a membra- 

 nous and a spongy. The membranous portion lies within the pelvic 

 cavity, and reaches from the neck of the bladder to the bulb of the 

 urethra. It measures 3 inches in length, and is surrounded between 

 the openings of the vasa deferentia and the bulb by a thick layer of 

 circularly arranged muscular fibres, the superficial fibres being 

 attached to the peritoneal fold which intervenes between the bladder 

 and rectum, whilst the deeper fibres are confined to the urethral wall. 

 On slitting open this portion of the canal a well-marked longitudinal 

 fold of mucous membrane is seen to extend along its floor from the 

 neck of the bladder as far as the middle, in length, of the membranous 

 part of the urethra, where it gradually disappears. Upon the summit 

 of this fold, and 1 inch in front of the neck of the bladder, is a cir- 

 cular opening ^ of an inch in diameter. This opening is the mouth 

 of a very minute recess, on the fundus of which the two vasa defe- 

 rentia terminate. The recess evidently represents the vesicula pro- 

 statica, but does not, so far as I could ascertain, form a central cul-de- 

 sac extending beyond the openings of the vasa, as it does in another 

 species of this genus. The prostate gland is altogether absent — a 

 fact difficult to reconcile with Professor Flower's observation, that in 

 a preparation of the male organs of H. crocuta in the Museum of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons this gland measures " half an inch in 

 length and rather less in breadth" 1 . 



The spongy portion of the urethra lies within the penis, and mea- 

 sures 8 inches in length. It is surrounded by a layer of erectile 



1 Since the above was in type I have had, through the kindness of Professor 

 Flower, an opportunity of examining the organs from which his description was 

 taken, and can bear testimony to the truth of his observations regarding the 

 presence of a prostate gland. It consisted of two distinct masses, each mea- 

 suring half an inch in length and a quarter of an inch in breadth, the duets of 



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