1881.] DR. M. WATSON ON THE SPOTTED HY^NA. 517 



he is dealing with the extremity of the male urethra, an error only- 

 corrected by an examination of the internal organs " ^ This 

 orifice, I showed, is situated on the extremity of the well-defined 

 glans clitoridis, that portion of the glans which is placed above the 

 opening in question being formed by the spongy structure of the 

 corpora cavernosa clitoridis, whilst the extremity of the glans below 

 the orifice is formed by the walls of the uriuogenital canal itself. The 

 glans clitoridis of the virgin is moreover surrounded by a well-defined 

 prepuce. In the paper referred to, whilst directing attention to the 

 small diameter of the uriuogenital canal of the virgin Hycena crocuta, 

 I referred to the difficulty of explaining the passage of the young 

 through so narrow a channel. An examination of the organs of the 

 female which had borne young served to explain this difficulty, and 

 showed that the external organs, including the uriuogenital canal, 

 undergo considerable alteration subsequent to parturition. These 

 changes refer exclusively to the uriuogenital canal, and more especially 

 to the orifice of the latter, the internal organs of generation under- 

 going no alteration in form. 



With regard to the alteration in size of the uriuogenital canal, I 

 found that whilst in the virgin that canal does not exceed half an 

 inch in diameter at any part, and that its orifice at the extremity of 

 the clitoris is not larger than to enable an ordinary knitting-pin to 

 be inserted, in the female which had borne young, on the other 

 hand, the canal becomes dilated to such an extent as readily to 

 admit of the insertion of three fingers into the orifice, and of their 

 passage backward through its entire length. The orifice of the 

 uriuogenital canal, together with the extremity of the clitoris, more- 

 over undergoes considerable alteration. In the virgin the orifice of 

 the canal is situated on the extremity of the clitoris, much as in the 

 opposite sex ; whilst in the female which has borne young the lower 

 portion of the glans clitoridis, which in the virgin is formed by 

 the lower wall of the uriuogenital canal itself, entirely disappears, 

 and consequently the canal, instead of opening upon the extremity 

 of the glans clitoridis as in the virgin, opens altogether below 

 that body (compare figs. 1, 2, 3, Plate XLIX.). Owing to this 

 change in the relation of parts, the lower wall of the orifice of the 

 uriuogenital canal in the female which has borne young is formed, not 

 by the lower portion of the glans clitoridis, but by the lower seg- 

 ment of the prepuce, with which the lower half of the glans clitoridis 

 of the virgin has apparently coalesced. In the virgin female, more- 

 over, the glans clitoridis, together with the orifice of the uriuogenital 

 canal, is contained within a single chamber formed by the encircling 

 prepuce, the latter being attached to the glans by a single mesialiy 

 placed frsenum. In the female which has borne young, on the other 

 hand, the coalescence of the lower half of the glans clitoridis with 

 the corresponding segment of the prepuce has, so to speak, occa- 

 sioned a splitting of the frsenum clitoridis into two lateral hnlves, 

 each of which is attached by one extremity to the lateral aspect of 

 the glans clitoridis, whilst its other extremity is fusud with the 



' P. Z. S. 1877, p. 309. 



