1877.] DR. WATSON ON THE ANATOMY OF HY^NA CROCUTA. 369 



1. On the Female Grenerative Organs of Hyaena crocuta. By 

 M. Watson, M.D., Professor of Anatomy, Owens Col- 

 lege, Manchester. Communicated by A. H. Garrod, 

 M.A. 



[Received April 11, 1877.] 



(Plates XL., XLI.) 



Before entering on the subject of this communication, I desire to 

 state that to Mr. A. H. Garrod is undoubtedly due the merit of having 

 first recognized the peculiar characteristics of the female generative 

 organs of Hycena crocuta, he having some time since examined a 

 specimen which died in the Society's garden. The structure of these 

 organs, however, struck him as so peculiar that he hesitated to pub- 

 lish tlie account of his dissection until such time as he should be 

 able to verify his observations by the examination of a second 

 specimen. Meanwhile I obtained the specimen the dissection of 

 which furnishes the subject matter of this communication, and, 

 feeling uncertain on account of the very unusual condition of the 

 female organs whether they were to be regarded as normal, applied 

 to Mr. Garrod for information. He at once in the most generous 

 manner forwarded to me for comparison what remained of his owii 

 dissection, and, in the note which accompanied it, showed that he 

 had clearly recognized the peculiarities in question. 



External parts. 



The appearance of the perineal region of the female Hycena crocuta 

 is such as to have led me in the first instance to believe the animal 

 which I examined to be one of the opposite sex. This belief was based 

 upon the following appearances : — (1) the absence of any well- 

 marked vulva such as one generally sees in female Carnivora ; (2) 

 the presence of an elongated pendulous penis-like body, surrounded 

 by a prepuce, and having a glans perforated by a single canal ; and 

 (3) the presence of two projections below the anus, which at once 

 called to mind the appearance of the scrotum in many Carnivora. 

 I pass to the description of these parts. 



Clitoris. — The pendulous penis-like body, viewed in the light of 

 the subsequent dissection, we must regard as the clitoris. It projects 

 downwards and forwards from the level of the perineum, mea- 

 sures 2 inches in length and 1 inch in diameter, and consists of a 

 central body, the glans clitoridis, which is surrounded by a thick 

 fleshy prepuce. The colour of the glans is bluish toward the tip, 

 where it is exposed, but flesh-coloured under cover of the prepuce. 

 Its extremity is obliquely truncated from before backward, so that 

 the posterior border of the glans is more prominent than the anterior. 

 It is moreover perforated by a single canal of so small a size that 

 one is at first sight induced to believe that he is deahng with the 

 extremity of the male urethra, au error only corrected by an exami- 

 nation of the internal organs. The prepuce consists of a double 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1877, No. XXIV. 24 



