518 DR. M. WATSON ON THE SPOTTED HY^NA. [May 3, 



opposing surface of the prepuce. Consequent upon this alteration in 

 the state of the parts, the originally single chamber bounded by the 

 prepuce becomes divided into two compartments — an upper, which 

 contains the glans clitoridis, and a lower, in which is situated the 

 orifice of the urinogenital canal. It appears, therefore, that in the 

 female which has borne young the frsenum of the prepuce becomes, 

 as it were, separated into two lateral halves, and that these, owing 

 to the dilatation of the orifice of the urinogenital canal, are displaced 

 upwards, so as to subdivide the preputial chamber into two parts, an 

 upper and a lower (Plate XLIX. fig. 3). At the same time the 

 lower wall of the extremity of the urinogenital canal becomes adherent 

 to and coalescent with the lower segment of the prepuce. In the 

 mature female Hycena crocuta the arrangement of the parts which 

 constitute the external genital organs is almost identical with that 

 which characterizes the genus Elephas, an arrangement which, so far 

 as our present knowledge goes, is confined among mammals to one 

 species of Hyana and to the two species of Elephant ^ 



But not only does the orifice of the urinogenital canal, together 

 with the extremity of the clitoris, undergo alteration in the female 

 which has given birth to young as compared with the virgin ; the 

 entire perineal region undergoes a marked change in appearance. 

 This change is due to the fact that in the former the perineal region 

 becomes more flaccid and " baggy " in character. To this is attri- 

 butable the fact that the "scrotal pouches" which I referred to in 

 my previous paper as being prominent in the virgin, become less so 

 in the female which has borne young ; and consequently the 

 resemblance which the external organs of the virgin female bear to 

 those of the male becomes considerably modified subsequent to par- 

 turition. In the mature female, moreover, the glans clitoridis, 

 instead of projecting beyond the free margin of the prepuce as in 

 the virgin, becomes concealed within the flaccid folds of the latter, 

 which, by reason of the " baggy " condition of the entire perineal 

 region, is not so clearly defined from the surrounding integument as 

 it is in the virgin. That this concealment of the clitoris of the adult 

 female, as compared with that of the virgin, is not due to any 

 diminution in size of the organ itself in the former, is shown by the 

 fact that, whilst in the virgin which I first examined the clitoris 

 measured 6g inches in length, and the penis of the male which I 

 formerly examined measured 8 inches in length, in the female which 

 had borne young I found that the clitoris measured 65 inches in 

 length, and the penis of the second and more mature male which I 

 received from the Society's Gardens measured 9 inches in length. 

 The dimension of the clitoris in both specimens is the same, whilst 

 the relative size of the male and female organs are nearly alike in 

 both cases. The lesser prominence of the clitoris in the female 

 which had borne young is therefore attributable to the greater 

 flaccidity of the tegumental folds surrounding it, consequent on 

 parturition, rather than to any diminution in size of the clitoris itself. 



■" Watson, "On the Female Organs of the Proboscidea," Trans. Zool. Soc. 

 ToL xi. 



