FEMALE ORGANS OF THE PEOBOSCIDEA. 127 



The female urino-genital canal of Elephas, however, differs from that oilTycena, inasmuch 

 as in the latter the canal perforates the extremity of the clitoris, and terminates exactly 

 as in the opposite sex ; whereas in the former tlie canal does not perforate, but opens 

 externally by an orifice situated helow the clitoris^ If, however, we imagine the 

 urino-genital canal and clitoris of the Elephant, instead of being entirely concealed by the 

 abdominal integuments, to be free for a part of their course, we shall then liave a 

 pendulous organ closely resembling the genital member of the opposite sex, an arrange- 

 ment which actually obtains in Hycena crocuta. Even in the female Elephant the 

 external organs of generation so closely resemble those of the male, that, according to 

 Perrault and Stukeley, the females which they examined were, previous to dissection, 

 believed to be males. In Hymna crocuta the corpora spongiosa of the female are repre- 

 sented by two small pear-shaped masses of erectile tissue which lie below the crura 

 clitoridis ; but in the Elephant these bodies have not been discovered, and, if present at 

 all, in all probability take the form of a venous plexus, the so-called vaginal bulbs of 

 the human female. In the female Hysena there is no trace of the bulbo-cavemosi 

 muscles of the opposite sex, whereas in the Indian Elephant they are largely developed. 



I have already indicated that the female urino-genital canal of Elephas presents a 

 striking resemblance to that of the male. As in my paper on Hymna croctita^ these 

 resemblances were fully pointed out, I need not further refer to them, as the remarks 

 there made apply equally to the Elephant, subject to the modifications just pointed out. 

 I shall therefore content myself by referring the reader to that paper, as well as to one 

 in the 'Journal of Anatomy'^, where the subject of sexual homology is treated at of 

 greater length. 



Physiological Observations. — The arrangement of the female passages of the Elephant 

 is such as at once explains the diversity of statement with regard to the position of the 

 female during sexual congress. It is evident that, as the vulva is situated so far for- 

 ward on the abdominal wall, instead of posteriorly as in the majority of mammals, 

 sexual congress could not be accomplished were the female to occupy the position usual 

 among quadrupeds. Passing by the absurd views of the older writers, in accordance 

 with which the female was placed with her back * to the ground, we find that Miall and 

 Greenwood^ state that " In the natural (unexcited) state the urino-genital canal is curved 

 forwards and opens on the under surface of the belly ; but by distention of the crura 

 clitoridis it can be so far straightened that the orifice looks almost directly backwards, 

 being then beneath the anus, but separated from it by a considerable interval. Thus 



' Observations made by me since this paper was laid before the Society show that in the female Eycena 

 crocuta which has borne young, although not in the virgin (in which the parts present the appearance referred 

 to in the text), the external orifice of the urino-genital canal comes to bear the same relation to the clitoris as 

 it does in the Elephant ; that is, it opens heUw the latter. 



" Proc. Zool. 8oc. 1878, p. 42.3. ' ^o\. xiv. p. 50. 



' Stukeley, 'Essay toward the Anatomy of the Elephant :' Lend. 1723. ' Loc. cit. p. fio. 



VOL. XI. — FAET IV. No. 4. — /ipril , 1881. T 



