52 



the description appended to the paper of the latter author, which 

 relates to an impregnated individual. I found no part of the struc- 

 ture which supports the view taken by Sir Everard Home relative to 

 the passage of the fecundating fluid to the uterus ; the only natural 

 communication between those cavities and the urethro-sexual canal 

 being by the two lateral vaginal canals. The female organs consist, 

 as in the Opossum, of two ovaries, two Fallopian tubes, two uteri, 

 each opening by a separate os tinea into a distinct vagina; the vagince 

 having no intercommunication, but terminating in the common pass- 

 age of Tyson, or urethro-sexual canal. 



" The urethro-sexual canal is li inch in length; its inner sur- 

 face is disposed in thick folds. The two anterior ones commencing 

 united together form a semilunar fold above the urethral aperture ; 

 these folds are deeply intersected with oblique rugce, the margins of 

 which are villous, the villi becoming longer and finer as they approach 

 the orifices of the true vagina. These commence -^ an inch above 

 the urethral orifice : their parietes are very thick for the extent of 

 one inch, and the lining membrane of this partis disposed in minute 

 longitudinal rugs ; it is then disposed in larger, coarser, and villous 

 ruga, similar to those of the first vagina, beneath which membrane 

 several small vesicles were developed. Each of the true vagina hav- 

 ing ascended with an outward curve for 2 inches, receives the os tinea 

 of its respective side, which is very projecting, and divided by deep 

 fissures into numerous processes, resembling a short tassel. TTie va- 

 gina then descend to the upper part of the urethro-sexual canal, form- 

 ing each a deep and large cul de sac, the inner surface of which is 

 characterized by irregular villous ruga, and the whole is highly vas- 

 cular. The culs de sac are separate as in the Opossum, and do not 

 communicate as in the Kangaroo. 



" The uteri are each 2 inches long, and -J of an inch in diameter, 

 somewhat flattened, pyriform, and giving off the oviducts from the 

 inner or mesial part of their fundus. For the extent of an inch, the 

 lining membrane presents a series of small but well-defined longitu- 

 dinal ruga, beyond which it assumes a fine texture, like velvet. The 

 peritoneal covering of the uterus is reflected from it upon the ovarian 

 ligament, the oviduct and the numerous vessels passing to the uterus 

 on the outer side of this ligament, the duplicature or broad liga- 

 ment containing which parts is 1^ inch in breadth, and attached by 

 its outer margin to the lumbar region of the abdomen as high as the 

 kidney : just below this gland it is reflected upon the ovary, forming 

 a large capsule for that part, and for the expanded extremity of the 

 Fallopian tube, which presents an extraordinary development of fringe- 

 like processes. 



" The ovary presents the most distinct racemose structure which 

 I have ever observed in the class Mammalia, consisting of about 

 thirty ovisacs, of which the largest is half an inch, the smallest half 

 a line in diameter ; the whole ovary being of an oblong irregular 

 figure 1-j- inch by 1 inch in dimensions. The mouth of the ovarian 



