THE Al^ATOMT OF THE ELK. 



375 



pass backward to open into the urethra, whilst the hitter lies be- 

 tween the lower extremities of the vasa, and consists of a body and 

 two comua. The body is represented by a stout fibrous cord, which 

 extends forwards to the free margin of the recto-vesical fold of 

 peritoneum, a distance of 5 inches, where it divides into the 

 cornua. Each of the latter passes outwards in the free margin 

 of the fold for a distance of 3J inches, and then dwindles into a 

 fibrous cord of such tenuity that it becomes lost in the perito- 

 neum. The body of the male uterus close to its junction with 

 the urethra is united with the vasa deferentia, and diminishes in 

 thickness to the junction of the cornua, where it expands into a 

 mass of tissue of a triangular form. The male uterus is solid, 

 and presents no trace of a cavity except just at its entrance into 

 the urethra, where there is a slight depression of the mucous 

 surface of that canal. There is no trace of a prostate gland. 



The intrapelvic portion of the urethra (PI. VII. fig. 7) mea- 

 sures 3 inches in length. Its walls (a, h) are thick, and consist 

 of an external coat of circularly arranged muscular fibres, internal 

 to which is a thick layer of erectile tissue. On slitting open this 

 canal an elongated eminence (the veru montanum) is seen to ex- 

 tend from the neck of the bladder to within half an inch of the 

 bulb of the urethra, where it gradually disappears. On the 

 summit of this eminence is the elongated slit- like aperture of a 

 cavity measuring 5 of an inch in depth, on the floor of which are 

 seen the openings of the ejaculatory ducts. There is no trace of 

 any aperture communicating with the fibrous cord, which repre- 

 sents at least a portion of the uterus ; and the question whether 

 we ought to regard the walls of the cavity itself as the representa- 

 tive of, and homologous with the uterus or with the vagina of the 

 opposite sex must in the mean time be left undecided. Leuckarl* 

 directs attention to the structure of the male uterus in the Hare 

 and Rabbit, and says, " But the most extraordinary circumstance 

 about the utriculus in these animals is this, that it receives the 

 ejaculatory ducts. In all other instances, these open indepen- 

 dently, by its sides, into the urogenital canal ; but here, depart- 

 ing from this rule, they open into the undermost part of the 

 Weberian organ," &c. It will thus be observed, from what we 

 have above stated,- that not only the Hare and Eabbit, but also 

 the Elk, form exceptions to the general rule respecting the rela- 

 tion between the seminal ducts and the male uterus ; and this is 



* ' Cyclopaedia of Anatomy,' art. Vesicula prostatica. 

 LINN. JOUEN. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. XIV. 27 



