Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London, 1883

Page 646

518 DR. M. WATSON ON THE FEMALE [Nov. 20, that communication I pointed out that, while in the majority of specimens which had been examined a well-developed septum uteri existed, yet this septum varied in length in different specimens, and that in none, with the single exception of that which formed the subject of that communication, was the septum uteri com­plete, but fell short of the os uteri to a greater or less extent in different individuals. In none, moreover, was there the slightest trace of a vaginal septum with the exception of the specimen de­scribed by myself, in which the septum vaginae, like the septum uteri, was complete, and of that described by Messrs. Miall and Greenwood1, in which the septum vaginae was reduced to the condition of a fibrous cord, which, stretching across the orifice of the vagina, led these authors to regard it as the representative of the hymen. Having recently, through the kindness of Mr. Harnistou of South-port, had an opportunity of examining the female organs of another young Indian Elephant, I have thought it might be well, in view of the diversity of statement above referred to, to put on record the result of a careful dissection of the female organs of this specimen. I shall, for tbe sake of comparison with m y previous communication, class m y observations under four beads:-1st, the condition of the septum uteri, including its relation to the body of the uterus ; 2nd, the differentiation of a secondary vagina from the uterus on the one hand, and from the urogenital canal on the other; 3rd, the condition of the vaginal septum ; and 4th, the number and position of the orifices which communicate with the commencement of the uro­genital canal. With regard to the first of these points, I found that the uterus presented the form already familiar to us through the researches of earlier observers. It consisted of an elongated corpus uteri, the exact dimensions of which I could not determine, as its anterior por­tion had been removed before the specimen fell into m y hands. Enough of the organ, however, remained to show that, so far as the external form of the uterus was concerned, it did not differ from the specimen which I described and figured in the Transactions of the Society. The interior of the uterus was provided with a well-developed septum which, although it occupied the greater portiou of the uterus (dividing it into lateral compartments), nevertheless failed to reach the os uteri, but ceased two inches in front of that orifice, at which point it presented a slightly concave or semilunar margin. In this specimen therefore, as in all which have been previously de­scribed, with the single exception of that formerly examined by myself, there was a unilocular corpus uteri, which measured two inches in length, the remainder and much the greater portion of the uterus being divided into two lateral compartments by means of a septum which extended from the junction of the uterine cornua backwards to within two inches of the os uteri. With regard to the second point, the differentiation of a secondary vagina as distinguished from the uterus on the one hand and the urogenital canal on the other, I found in the specimen under con- 1 ' Studies in Comparative Anatomy,' vol. ii. p. 64.