1872.] ANATOMY OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 195 



discover any glands, after a very minute and careful dissection. The 

 coats of the large intestine are very much thicker than those of the 

 small, and the mesentery is much stouter and stronger. In this 

 specimen it was heavily weighted with fat. 



I regret that I omitted to examine the pancreas. The spleen is 

 flat and elongated, rather broader at one end than at the other, and 

 partially divided into two lobes. It measured 5|-" in length, and 4" 

 in breadth at its widest part. The liver has been described and 

 figured by Gratiolet. 



Uterus. — Fig. 8 (p. 194) represents this organ laid open. Gratiolet 

 remarks (p. 401), " The uterus has two flexuous, intestiniform horns, 

 opening by a broad orifice into a common cavity of moderate extent, 

 which almost immediately, without the interposition of any distinctly 

 marked neck, becomes the vagina. This vagina presents first a tract 

 covered with circular bands like valvules conniventes. More than 

 twenty-five of these bands can be counted. Next comes a space 

 covered with longitudinal folds, terminating in a cul de sac near the 

 urogenital chamber, without any aperture. Is this imperforation of 

 the vagina constant in female Hippopotami of this age ? " 



The uterus of my specimen differs in several particulars from that 

 the description of which I have just given. The body of the uterus 

 (A, fig. 8) is very small. There is no proper "os tincse." The 

 septum between the confluent horns terminates about |" in front of 

 the constriction that takes its place. The superior portion of the 

 vagina (that above the point where the longitudinal folds terminate) 

 is marked by thirteen transverse muscular bands, subdivided longitu- 

 dinally by striations of greater or less depth. These are shallower 

 and more numerous between the bands than on their surface. The 

 bands themselves are thickest at the superior end, where they alter- 

 nate ; that is to say, each band extends only halfway across the 

 vagina, its termination gradually dying into the walls. Possibly 

 these, from their great size and thickness, may perform the functions 

 of an "os." The lower portion from B to C, 2\ u in length, is 

 marked by two prominent diverging rugae, between and to the sides 

 of which the muscular bands before described are continued, but they 

 are much less definite and distinct. The vagina was perforate ; the 

 aperture was small, but admitted a slender probe without difficulty. 

 In front of this aperture are three deep depressions. The central 

 one contains the orifice of the urethra. Those on each side appear 

 to be merely continuations of the deep folds of membrane above. The 

 walls at this part are exceedingly thick, nearly half an inch in breadth. 

 The central portion and front wall of what may be termed the 

 "cloaca" is occupied by the clitoris, the superior surface of which 

 is marked by a deep groove, continuous with the opening of the 

 urethra. On each side of this, above the opening of the rectum, is 

 a deep pit or pouch, 1" long, by |" wide and |" deep. 



