352 REPT1LIA. 



The urethra and last gut may be considered as opening into one 

 common canal or cavity [uro-genital canal] at one part, or together, 

 which canal leads to the anus and is of a livid colour. Along the 

 lowest or anterior side of this canal passes a groove ; this groove begins 

 at the opening of the urethra, and would seem, at the beginning, to be 

 almost wholly in the side of the canal ; but, as it advances towards the 

 anus, its sides rise higher and higher, till at last it emerges wholly out 

 and projects like a bird's tongue, underneath which projection is a fold 

 of the internal membrane, which is a kind of preputium. This groove 

 is made up of a firm ligamentous substance, so that it is always straight ; 

 it is the conductor of the semen to the female, and the projecting part 

 may be called the penis. This projecting part does not seem to be 

 capable of elongating so as to project beyond the anus at the time of 

 coition ; but all the parts are brought further back, and a kind of pro- 

 lapsus is produced which exposes the penis. This can be done in the 

 dead subject by introducing the finger and laying hold of the penis and 

 pulling it out 1 . 



The Female Parts. — The ovaria are situated before the kidneys ; they 

 appear like a membrane sewed down on its middle, and puckered 

 or gathered so that its edges run in a convoluted manner, broadest in 

 the middle, becoming narrower and narrower, and ending in an obtuse 

 point. This membrane is studded as thick as possible with small bodies, 

 some of which are darker than others, which make the whole a kind of 

 grey colour. They have their vessels mostly from the lower part of the 

 aorta 2 . - 



The oviduct [traced from the cloaca] runs along in the doubling of a 

 very thin broad membrane from the rectum, upward and outward, over 

 the kidney, on the outside of the ovarium, and then along the shell 

 [carapace] on the outside of the lungs as far as the upper and fore-part 

 of the abdomen, and opens upon the edge of this membrane in an 

 oblique direction [the anterior or abdominal aperture], which makes the 

 edge appear double for some way. They had no opening into the 

 rectum ; but where they emerged into the adhesion of the rectum and 

 bladder, they became wider, and seemed to terminate in a blind end. 

 But this blind end is within the nipple of the ureter ; therefore it is 

 most probable that they enter there, as they do not come near the 

 rectum 3 . 



On the outside of this cavity is an oblong protuberance projecting 

 inwards. The inner surface of this cavity is rugous. All round these 



1 [Hunt. Preps. Phys. Series, fro. 2+46.] 2 [lb. No. 2718.] 



3 [lb. No. 2722. in which the cloaca! aperture of the oviduct is shown.] 



