extremity of a wide chamber, 1T0 inch in length, the walls of which consist of a
strong fibrous structure thrown into tendinous bands and marked by a few crypts,
the openings of lacteal canals. The outer surface of the external half of this
chamber is invested by a sphincter muscle for expelling its contents and keeping the
orifice leading to the canal closed. The chamber at its anterior end contracts to a
moderately small orifice surrounded by a loose fold of the tendinous wall, that hangs
so freely into the chamber as almost to resemble a valve. Placed immediately before
it, is the capacious cavity into which all the larger ducts pour their secretion. This is
1-25 inch in length, by 0*50 in breadth, and its wall has the same tendinous character
as the former. Anteriorly it is continued on into the gland as a duct, 0 20 inch in
width. Numerous ducts open into this chamber from all directions, each orifice
being marked by an arched fold; on compressing the mammary slit of a living
gravid female a clear pale amber-coloured fluid, with a distinctly saltish taste, was
squirted out with considerable force. I t dried on the fingers like a varnish and
was very sticky in drying. I t consisted almost entirely of albumen.
The gland itself is fully 6 inches long with an average breadth of 1’50 inch,
and it extends 3 inches anterior to the commencement of the duct at the head of
the second chamber, and is placed parallel to the outline of the vulva, 1 inch below
the surface. I t is a pale yellowish structure of considerable consistence.
The extensile nature of the tissues surrounding the two chambers must admit
of their being considerably distended with milk when the gland is active, and the
probability is that the milk is squirted into the mouth of the young. The long snout
of the young with its formidable array of teeth, and the circumstance that the skin
is tightly drawn over it, and that the applied surfaces of the upper and lower jaws lie
between the rows of teeth render it highly improbable that the young is fed through
the extremity of the snout. The concave surface, however, at the base of the snout
seems admirably adapted for application to the mammary region of the mother, and
it seems likely that the young rises sideways to the nipple, so that the side of
the mouth with its fleshy lips is brought over the mammary region, and that the milV
by the pressure is squirted into it. In the living gravid female which came under my
observation the slightest pressure exercised around the mammary slit caused the lacteal
fluid as I have said, even before the birth of the foetus, to be squirted out to a
considerable distance.
Vulva in yov/ng and adult stages.—In the virgin, measuring 57 inches, the
vulva is 2T8 inches long, and in the gravid female 4'36 inches. In the former the mum,
mary slits lie nearly in a line with the labia majora, but in the adult they become more
external. The clitoris (PI. XXXII, fig. 2, cl) is well developed, and in the virgin
where its true form is best seen, it consists of a bilobular glans, beyond which projects
a filiform process resembling the tubular termination of the male urethra, and
in the virgin at the anterior margin of the base of the glans there is a mesial rounded
eminence, which, however, in the adult has become shrivelled into folds. In the
virgin the glans is half an inch in length by 0'36 inch in breadth, and the filiform
process has the same length. The division between the lobes of the glans is very
deep, and the two resultant structures resemble the cotyledons of a growing bean.
The process arises between them posteriorly. A preputial fold springs from the base
of th e . glans on either side of it, and the two passing forwards enclose it and the
rounded eminence, terminating before the latter. Each fold arises from the glans
as a double fold, the two portions of which rapidly unite, enclosing a depression.
The labia minora are only faintly indicated. The urethral orifice lies to the right
of the base of the filiform process, and is therefore eccentric in position to the
mesial line of the body. The area around it and the corresponding surface on the
opposite side are devoid of pigment.
In a female measuring 82’50 inches in length, the generative opening
(PI. XXXI, fig. 1) is a longitudinal slit about 3*50 inches long. The lips consist of
a thick spongy mass, rich in oil. The internal skin is thrown into transverse wrinkles
and is continued internal to the lips for about half an inch, preserving its colour and
general character. Beyond this point its place is taken by the mucous membrane
of the vagina, which is of a pale yellowish hue marked by greyish patches. On
pulling- the lips apart the sides of the general opening are seen to be thrown into
longitudinal folds.
Lying between the anus and the vulva in a transverse area, which is nearly
devoid of pigment, are four small openings. Two occupy the middle line, and are
placed so close together that they are Only separated from each other by a thin
septum, and their passages diverge outwards, each leading into a shallow sac. The
other two orifices, placed on either side.of the foregoing, are separated from them in
an individual measuring 54 inches by an interval of about 2 millimetres, and are
similarly constituted to the former. I can detect no glands in connection with
these pits.
Characters o f the virgin vagina and uterus.—In a female a little more than half
grown,- the vagina is 3‘75 inches long (PI. XXXII, fig. 1). I t does not, however,
occupy the mesial line, but tends to the right side of the /body, so much so that the
vaginal mouth of the os uteri is on a line with the right mammary slit, and, moreover,
its ventral wall is directed outwards to the right side, whilst \its dorsal wall is bent
outwards to the left side, with the rectum placed over it to the left of the mesial line.
Its transverse axis is thus placed obliquely from above downwards from right to left.
Besides, however, being dextralin the course of its long axis, the latter presents three
distinct curves. The first arches upwards and forwards, the convexity of the curve
being directed upwards and backwards, which is followed by an anteriorly concave
curve of the ventral wall, succeeded, behind the os uteri, by an upward and forward
sweep. The canal dilates from behind forwards in the first three-fourths of its course,
i. e., until it reaches the portion in which there are certain persistent cross folds in the
wall, which resemble so many spurious uterine mouths. The external opening was so
extremely small and puckered that the tip of the little finger could be introduced only
with difficulty: there was no membrane resembling a hymen. I t was thrown into two
posterior and two anterior principal folds, the two former diverging to enclose the anus,
being continued on to the dorsal wall of the vagina, only however for a very short