1881.] VAGINAL APPARATUS IN THE MACROPODID.E. 977 



Tliough several anatomists have met with uterine foetuses in situ, 

 no one as yet seems to have had the good fortune to find an embryo 

 in any part of the vaginae ; consequently there has been much con- 

 troversy as to the route taken by the embryo in passing to the uro- 

 genital passage. Some writers maintain that it comes down one of 

 the lateral canals ; while others affirm that these serve only for the 

 conveyance of tiie semen, and that the embrj'O passes directly from 

 the median vaginal canal into the urogenital chamber. 



We have ventured to bring the subject under the notice of the 

 Society for several reasons. First, because we have found the open 

 condition in some species in which it has not Jiitherto been recorded ; 

 secondly, hecause the text-books used by students in this country 

 either refer to the subject only very briefly, as in Prof. Owen's * Com- 

 parative Anatomy,' vol. iii., or nor at all, as in the manuals of Profs. 

 Gegenbauer, Huxley, and Macalister ; thirdly, because, with the 

 exception of Home and Owen, no English observers seem to have 

 noticed the open condition of the median cul-de-sac, while it has, as 

 we shall show presently, attracted the attention of a considerable 

 number of continental investigators. As will be pointed out later 

 on, many of the observations already recorded are almost valueless, 

 because the observers have not referred their specimens to any genera 

 or species, or because they have been unable or have neglected to 

 offer any evidence as to whether the animals they are dealing with 

 had certainly produced young or not. 



Before giving the details in connection with our specimen, it will 

 be interesting to state briefly the results already obtained. As far 

 as we can learn, the observers who have investigated the condition 

 of the m-edian vaginal canal, and have published the results arrived 

 at, are the following — Home, Cuvier, Seiler, G. St.-Hilaire, Owen, 

 Cams, Vrolik, Poelman, Alix, Luca, Pageustecher, Garrod, and 

 Brass. 



Sir E. Home\ who published an account in 1785, seems to have 

 been the first to give a description of the female reproductive organs 

 of the Kangaroo. This writer says that impregnated uteri had reached 

 John Hunter before his death, but that from want of leisure the 

 illustrious anatomist was prevented from giving them the attention 

 they deserved. Home does not say how many specimens came under 

 his own observation, nor to what species they belonged. In one of 

 his specimens he found the median vaginal portion (uterus of Home) 

 a veritable cul-de-sac. In another specimen he found the median 

 vaginal portion (uterus of Home) in communication, by a small 

 aperture, with the urogenital chamber (vagina of Home). Finding 

 what he took to be an embryo in the median vaginal canal (uterus 

 of Home), he supposed that he was dealing in this case with an im- 

 pregnated uterus, and in the previous case with one in the virgin 

 condition ; and he came to the conclusion that the median vaginal 

 portion was impervious in the virgin state, that during pregnancy 



' Phil. Trans. Ixxxv. 1785, pp. 222-230; also Lect. on Comp. Anat. vol. iii. 

 pp. 341-370. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1881, No. LXIII. 63 



