408 CONGENITAL DEFECTS AND RETENTION OF THE TESTICLES. 
lie outside the abdominal cavity, but not in the scrotum (ectopia of the 
testicle) ; thus the testicles have been found below the diaphragm or in 
the crural canal: the first condition is termed ectopia abdominalis, the 
latter ectopia cruralis. In dogs one or both testicles have been found 
lying beneath the skin next the glans penis ; in a bull, one testicle was 
met with in the subcutis of the flank. 
Supernumerary testicles are said to have been seen in horses and 
mules. Cox found three testicles in a certain horse, and Olivier as 
many as four in a mule. The accuracy of these observations may, 
however, be questioned, as a thorough description of the supernumerary 
organs is wanting, and one cannot help thinking that these were cases 
of mistaken diagnosis, or that the supposed accessory testicle was really 
the epididymis which, in cryptorchids, sometimes lies in the inguinal 
canal, whence it is removed, while the testicle remains behind in the 
abdomen. 
Absence of the testicles (anorchidism) is extremely rare. Mauri 
describes an attempted operation on a cryptorchid in which the testicles 
seemed to be absent. 
* 
The significance of all these conditions is self-evident. Both anor- 
chidismus and defective development of both testicles makes the animal 
useless for stud purposes. The same is usually also true of cryptor- 
chismus, for testicles when retained in the abdominal cavity are generally 
atrophic, lax, and either contain degenerated spermatozoa, or none at 
all; on the other hand, more than one operator has removed retained 
testicles which yielded abundance of spermatozoa. The question of the 
fertility of cryptorchids was first raised by Gurlt when studying the 
function of the spermatozoa : his experiments seem to deny fertilising 
power under such circumstances, for he was unable to discover sperma¬ 
tozoa in the retained testicle. Since then the same question has been 
variously answered. Peters considers such animals not fertile, though 
quite capable of coitus. Wesche, on the other hand, states having seen 
fertile cryptorchids ; he refers, however, to a case of cryptorchismus ingui- 
nalis. A final answer can scarcely be given. The animal’s fertility 
clearly depends on the development of the testicles. The great majority 
of retained testicles certainly appear degenerated, and contain no 
spermatozoa, though many persons of acknowledged authority describe 
having removed from the abdominal cavity testicles which were fully 
developed and contained numerous motile spermatozoa. Paugoue 
speaks of a stallion in which both testicles were retained, and whose 
progeny numbered amongst them five cryptorchids or monorchids; thus 
apparently proving the condition to be hereditary. 
The retained testicle is often the seat of disease and not infrequently of 
malignant new growths like sarcoma, carcinoma, &c. Leisering, in the 
