126 PROF. M. WATSON ON THE ANATOMY OF THE 
only the extremity of that organ (p., Pl. XXI.) exposed. This I am inclined to 
regard as the true prepuce—a structure which is altogether absent in the African 
Elephant’. 
From the foregoing comparison of the female organs of the Indian with those of the 
African Elephant we see that, for the most part, the two species closely resemble one 
another. The extent to which the utero-vaginal septum is developed appears, from the 
observations of the different anatomists above referred to, to be variable in both species ; 
and, taking into consideration this variety of statement, further research is necessary 
before we can arrive at any definite conclusion as to the explanation of this fact. 
Comparison of the female Organs of the Proboscidea with those of other Mammals.— 
The most striking peculiarities of the female organs of the two species of Elephant lie 
(a) in the presence of a non-functional vagina, which closely resembles the uterus in 
structure, and (J) in the length and peculiar course of the urino-genital canal, which 
gives rise to an arrangement closely resembling that of the corresponding parts of the 
opposite sex. With reference to the first of these points, although there are many 
mammals in which the vagina is functionally useless during sexual congress, its usual 
function in such being delegated to the urino-genital canal; yet there are few in which 
the vagina, in respect of anatomical structure, presents so close a resemblance to the 
uterus as does that of the Elephant. A resemblance of a similar kind, but more 
pronounced in character, is, so far as I am aware, only met with in the female Hyena 
crocuta2. In this animal all distinction between the uterus and vagina has disappeared, 
the vagina being so metamorphosed as to be structurally undistinguishable from the 
uterus. The lower portion of the uterus of this animal must nevertheless be regarded, 
morphologically and developmentally, as homologous with the vagina of other mammals. 
As regards the length of the urino-genital canal, Owen® states that in one group of 
mammals, that of the Platyrrhine Monkeys, the urino-genital canal equals in length that 
of the secondary vagina, but in the majority of mammals the former is much shorter 
than the latter. In the African Elephant, according to Forbes, the length of the urino- 
genital canal is to that of the vagina as 3 to 1, whilst in the Indian species the former is 
to the latter as 2 to 1. In the Indian Elephant, therefore, as in Hyena crocuta, the 
female urino-genital canal is immensely elongated, and closely resembles the correspond- 
ing structure of the opposite sex. In both it is provided with Cowperian ducts opening 
at the junction of its intra- and extrapelvic portions; in both the clitoris is of enormous 
size ; and in both the urino-genital canal extends forward in relation to the lower surface 
of the clitoris, and consequently opens much further forward than in the majority of 
mammals, the orifice of the urino-genital canal, in fact, occupying a corresponding position 
in both sexes. These remarks apply equally to the African as to the Indian Elephant. 
1 It is worthy of remark that the structure which I consider as representing the true prepuce was also absent 
in the specimen of the Indian Elephant dissected by Messrs. Miall and Greenwood. 
? Proc. Zool. Soc, 1877, p. 3738. 3 Anat. and Phys. of Vertebrates, vol. iii. p. 703. 
