FEMALE ORGANS OF THE PROBOSCIDEA. 127 
The female urino-genital canal of Elephas, however, differs from that of Hyena, inasmuch 
as in the latter the canal perforates the extremity of the clitoris, and terminates exactly 
as in the opposite sex ; whereas in the former thie canal does not perforate, but opens 
externally by an orifice situated below the clitoris!. If, however, we imagine the 
urino-genital canal and clitoris of the Elephant, instead of being entirely concealed by the 
abdominal integuments, to be free for a part of their course, we shall then have a 
pendulous organ closely resembling the genital member of the opposite sex, an arrange- 
ment which actually obtains in Hyena crocuta. Even in the female Elephant the 
external organs of generation so closely resemble those of the male, that, according to 
Perrault and Stukeley, the females which they examined were, previous to dissection, 
believed to be males. In Hyena crocuta the corpora spongiosa of the female are repre- 
sented by two small pear-shaped masses of erectile tissue which lie below the crura 
clitoridis; but in the Elephant these bodies have not been discovered, and, if present at 
all, in all probability take the form of a venous plexus, the so-called vaginal bulbs of 
the human female. In the female Hyena there is no trace of the bulbo-cavernosi 
muscles of the opposite sex, whereas in the Indian Elephant they are largely developed. 
I have already indicated that the female urino-genital canal of Hlephas presents a 
striking resemblance to that of the male. As in my paper on Hyena crocuta? these 
resemblances were fully pointed out, I need not further refer to them, as the remarks 
there made apply equally to the Elephant, subject to the modifications just pointed out. 
I shall therefore content myself by referring the reader to that paper, as well as to one 
in the ‘ Journal of Anatomy’, where the subject of sexual homology is treated at of 
greater length. — 
Physiological Observations.—The arrangement of the female passages of the Elephant 
is such as at once explains the diversity of statement with regard to the position of the 
female during sexual congress. It is evident that, as the vulva is situated so far for- 
ward on the abdominal wall, instead of posteriorly as in the majority of mammals, 
sexual congress could not be accomplished were the female to occupy the position usual 
among quadrupeds. Passing by the absurd views of the older writers, in accordance 
with which the female was placed with her back* to the ground, we find that Miall and 
Greenwood’ state that “In the natural (unexcited) state the urino-genital canal is curved 
forwards and opens on the under surface of the belly; but by distention of the crura 
clitoridis it can be so far straightened that the oritice looks almost directly backwards, 
being then beneath the anus, but separated from it by a considerable interval. Thus 
1 Observations made by me since this paper was laid before the Society show that in the female Hyena 
crocuta which has borne young, although not in the virgin (in which the parts present the appearance referred 
to in the text), the external orifice of the urino-genital canal comes to bear the same relation to the clitoris as 
it does in the Elephant ; that is, it opens below the latter. 
? Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 423. 3 Vol. xiv. p. 50. 
* Stukeley, ‘Essay toward the Anatomy of the Elephant :’ Lond. 1723. 5 Loc. cit. p. 65. 
VOL. XI.—part Iv. No. 4.—Apri/, 1881. ¥ 
