1877.] ANATOMY OF HY^NA CROCUTA. 3/7 



other animals, but a round hole similar to an anus. Just within 

 this is the clitoris, which points forwards like a short, blunt tongue." 

 Murie* figures the external female organs of H. hrunnea, and 

 describes the " vulva as being slit-shaped, i of an inch in length, 

 and with the urethral outlet placed in its anterior angle." He 

 makes no mention whatever of the clitoris. Now it is impossible to 

 doubt that, had the clitoris presented the large size in either of these 

 species that it does in H. crocuta, one or both of the observers 

 just named would have referred to it. Moreover the presence in 

 both these of a vulva presenting the usual appearance, and particu- 

 larly referred to by the anatomists who describe them, shows 

 that in this respect also H. crocuta differs much from its congeners. 

 The perforation of the clitoris by the urino-genital canal is an arrange- 

 ment which, so far as I am aware, does not occur in any other ani- 

 mal. It is not by any means exceptional that the female xirethra 

 should groove or even perforate the clitoris ; but the fact that the 

 excretory canal which is common to both the urinary and genital 

 organs should do so is, I believe, extremely uncommon. Owen^ 

 says that, with the excejitiou of the monotremes, " in all mammals 

 both urine and sernen are carried out by the urethral canal in the 

 male ; and in some lusectivora and Quadrumana the clitoris in the 

 female is similarly traversed by a canal, which here, however, is ex- 

 clusively for the urine. The vaginal orifice intervenes between the 

 prominent and perforate clitoris and the anus." 



The arrangement of the female organs in H. crocuta is such as to 

 give them a great resemblance to those of the males in other species. 

 Leuckart' figures the passages of the male H. striata, and shows 

 that in connexion with the floor of the prostatic portion of the urethra 

 there is a small flask-shaped uterus masculinus. Now, if we suppose 

 this uterus masculinus enlarged to the size of the uterus, above de- 

 scribed, of the female H. crocuta, we shall, in the absence of a 

 prostate gland, have an almost identical arrangement of the excretory 

 passages of both sexes, an agreement which is confirmed by the 

 position and large size of the Cowperian glands in both. I have 

 not had an opportunity of examining the male organs of H. crocuta; 

 but, from Prof. Flower's remarks^ as to the form of the penis in that 

 animal, I am inclined to think that it closely resembles the clitoris of 

 the opposite sex ; and an examination of Dr. Murie's drawing of the ex- 

 ternal parts of a young male H. crocuta confirms this opinion. Add 

 to which that, as I have already stated at the commencement of this 

 paper, the resemblance of the external parts in general in both sexes is 

 so close that it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish them, and we 

 have, I think, an explanation of the notion entertained by the ancients 

 regarding these animals — namely, that they were hermaphrodites. 

 As showing how easily even those who are most familiar with these 

 creatures may be misled, I may mention that the keepers of the 



1 Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vii. p. 504; fig. 1. 



* Anat. of Vertebrates, vol. iii. p. 609. 



^ Cyclopsed. of Anat. vol. iv. Art. " Vcsicula prostatica." 



^ Proe. Zool. Soc. 1869, p. 493. 



