1895.] 461 [Miller. 
privilege d'etre toujours vierge, meme apr^s de nombreux 
accouchements n'appartient pas exclusiveraent k la femelle du 
Cochon d'Inde ; celle d'un ancien habitant de notre Europe en 
a aussi 6t6 gratifid, c'est la Souris."i 
I can find no further reference to tlie subject until 1886 
when Lataste ( '86, p. 365, 366) contradicts the statement of 
Legallois, saying that the vaginal walls are merely approxi- 
mated, the fusion being apparent only. As Lataste made no 
histological investigation of the subject, I doubt his conclusions. 
Nevertheless as his observations were made chiefly on the house 
mouse, a species which I have never studied, it may be that he is 
right, though in the closely related Mus sylvaticus I have found 
the gross conditions to be exactly the same as in the American 
Peromyscus. 
Xo other writers have to my knowledge touched on this 
subject. 
HisTOLocJK AL Conditions. 
(a) In the adult. 
Peromyscus leucopus canadensis; a fully adult animal taken 
during lactation, and before marks of placental attachment had 
disappeared from the uterus. A few hours after death a mass of 
the integument surrounding the genital organs was removed ; the 
vagina and rectum wei'e cut at the inner surface of the skin ; 
the whole was treated with Kleinenberg's fluid. Subsequently 
the material was stained in toto in Czokor's alum cochineal. 
Sections lOi*. thick were cut parallel to the sagittal plane of the 
body. After being aflixed to the slide these were passed through 
90 per cent alcohol strongly colored with picric acid. The differ- 
ential stain obtained by this method is good, though somewhat 
fainter than might be desired. 
The series of sections being perfect shows conclusively that 
the vaginal orifice is closed, not, as Lataste states, by the mere 
approximation of the walls, but by a mass of epidermal cells, 
which is absolutely continuous across the vaginal region. 
On examination of a section passing through the axis of the 
vagina it is seen that the potential vaginal orifice lies close 
I Unfortunately I have not seen the original work of Legallois, but quote the above 
from Lataste ( '87 ). The passage occurs in the English translation by N. C. and ,J. G. 
Nancrede ( Philadelphia, 1813 ) on pages 319, 320. 
