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Show 1878.] GENERATIVE ORGANS OF HY^ENA CROCUTA. 419 Bladder and Urethra.-The bladder is regularly pyriform and of small size, measuring 4 inches in length. As in the female, it passes gradually into the urethra, so that it is difficult to say where the one ends and the other begins. It is completely covered by peritoneum as far back as the openings of the ureters, and is attached to the pelvic and abdominal walls by reflections of that membrane. The ligaments thus formed are three in number, two being superior and one inferior. Each superior ligament is attached by one extremity to the superior and supero-lateral pelvic wall, and by the other to the lateral aspect of the bladder. Each consists of a double fold of peritoneum, in the anterior or free margin of which is placed the fibrous cord formed by the obliterated hypogastric artery; and crossing the inner side of the latter from before backward as they enter the pelvis are the ureter and the vas deferens, the ureter being uppermost. The inferior vesical ligament is sickle-shaped, and consists of an elongated fold of peritoneum, which extends between the ventral surface of the bladder and the anterior abdominal wall as far forward as the umbilicus. The ureters are remarkably thick and muscular, and open into the base of the bladder half an inch from the orifice of the urethra. The urethra extends from the bladder to the extremity of the penis, and consists of two portions, a membranous and a spongy. The membranous portion lies within the pelvic cavity, and reaches from the neck of the bladder to the bulb of the urethra. It measures 3 inches in length, and is surrounded between the openings of the vasa deferentia and the bulb by a thick layer of circularly arranged muscular fibres, the superficial fibres being attached to the peritoneal fold which intervenes between the bladder and rectum, whilst the deeper fibres are confined to the urethral wall. On slitting open this portion of the canal a well-marked longitudinal fold of mucous membrane is seen to extend along its floor from the neck of the bladder as far as the middle, in length, of the membranous part of the urethra, where it gradually disappears. Upon the summit of this fold, and 1 inch in front of the neck of the bladder, is a circular opening £ of an inch in diameter. This opening is the mouth of a very minute recess, on the fundus of which the two vasa deferentia terminate. The recess evidently represents the vesicula pro-statica, but does not, so far as I could ascertain, form a central cul-de-sac extending beyond the openings of the vasa, as it does in another species of this genus. The prostate gland is altogether absent-a fact difficult to reconcile with Professor Flower's observation, that in a preparation of the male organs of H. crocuta in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons this gland measures " half an inch in length and rather less in breadth"1. The spongy portion of the urethra lies within the penis, and measures 8 inches in length. It is surrounded by a layer of erectile 1 Since the above was in type I have had, through the kindness of Professor Flower, an opportunity of examining the organs from which his description was taken, and can bear testimony to the truth of his observations regarding the presence of a prostate gland. It consisted of two distinct masses, each measuring half an inch in length and a quarter of an inch in breadth, the ducts of 27* |
