194 The Alligator and Its Allies 
voluted for a short distance, but gradually 
straightens out, to pass to its posterior end as 
a nearly straight duct. The anterior straight 
portion of the oviduct is connected with the head 
of the ovary by a narrow band of mesentery. 
Each testis, Fig. 55, b, like the ovary, lies along 
the ventro-mesial border of its corresponding kid- 
ney and is connected with the posterior region 
of the cloaca by a slender vas deferens, Fig. 55, c, f. 
According to Rathke (in C. acutus) a small, 
slender epididymis lies along the outer side of the 
posterior half of each testis. 
The Copulatory Organs. The pents, Fig. 56, usu- 
ally lies completely hidden in the cloaca; with its 
glans projecting backwards it is strongly arched; 
along the convex side of the arch, which is directed 
towards the upper wall of the cloaca, runs a groove, 
which serves as a penial urethra to conduct the 
semen. 
According to Rathke there may be recognized 
in connection with the penis two fibrous strands 
(resembling the corpora cavernosa of mammals), 
a corpus cavernosus urethrea, and a covering 
derived from the mucous membrane of the cloaca. 
The two fibrous strands arise from the pubis as two 
thick plates that soon completely fuse together by 
their adjacent sides to form the shaft, c, of the 
penis. These fused strands taper gradually to- 
wards the glans, in which they end in a point. 
From their mode of fusion there is left between 
