438 DR. J. ANDERSON ON THE CLOACAL BLADDERS 



Cuvier * has fully indicated the nature of these canals in the 

 male tortoise ; but it is to Is. Greoffroy St.-Hilaire and Martin-f that 

 we are indebted for an account of those structures in the female, 

 although some of the results of these observers may not be alto- 

 gether accepted. Cuvier has described the peritoneal canal of 

 the male as terminating in a cul-de-sac at the base of the glans ; 

 whereas Is. Greoffroy St.-Hilaire and Martin supposed that they 

 had established a much more intricate arrangement in the female. 

 But before mentioning their views I shall say a few words about 

 the peritoneal canals and their relations. 



These canals commence on each side of the pyriform neck of 

 the bladder, within the perivisceral cavity ; and they are in reality 

 diverticula for that cavity, being lined with a serous membrane. 

 Each canal begins in the depression or pit in the visceral cavity, 

 external to the neck of the bladder. When distended by a probe, 

 the orifice of the canal (or, more correctly, the diverticulum) is 

 found to have considerable capacity, and to lie along the inside 

 of each corpus cavernosum, at first crossing the spongy bulb of 

 the male organ, and then lying between the corpora cavernosa 

 and in position immediately external to the genito-urinal groove 

 traversing the floor of the cloaca, or in reality the dorsum .of 

 the penial tract. In all the foregoing genera these diverticula of 

 the perivisceral cavity are prolonged to the base of the glans, 

 both of the penis and clitoris, and without any apparent diminution 

 in capacity. Isidore Greoffroy St.-Hilaire and J. G. Martin, in ex- 

 amining an example oi^mys trijuga quite recently dead, state that 

 they perfectly succeeded in injecting the two peritoneal canals 

 with mercury, and that they certainly saw it penetrate into the 

 corpora cavernosa, and also into the small conduits of the glans, 

 which became inflated, rising upwards to a level with the surface 

 of the organ. Moreover they considered that they had estab- 

 lished the existence of a communication between the peritoneal 

 canals and the corpora cavernosa, by being able to propel a globule 

 of mercury from the peritoneal cavity either into the little con- 

 duits of the glans or into the cavernous bodies, and as by an 

 inverse movement they made the globule reenter into the perito- 

 neal canals. Thus globules contained in the little conduits of the 

 glans, ascending them, might be propelled into the peritoneal 

 canals, thence into the cavernous bodies ; and, reciprocally, those 

 * Anat. Comp. vol. v. p. 114. 

 t Ann. des Sc. >'at. toI. \m. (1828) pp. 153, 201. 



