OCR Text |
Show 518 DR. M. WATSON ON THE SPOTTED HYiENA. [May 3, opposing surface of the prepuce. Consequent upon this alteration in the state of the parts, the originally single chamber bounded by the prepuce becomes divided into two compartments-an upper, which contains the glans clitoridis, and a lower, in which is situated the orifice of the urinogenital canal. It appears, therefore, that in the female which has borne young the fraenum of the prepuce becomes, as it were, separated into two lateral halves, and that these, owing to the dilatation of the orifice of the urinogenital canal, are displaced upwards, so as to subdivide the preputial chamber into two parts, an upper and a lower (Plate XLIX. fig. 3). At the same time the lower wall of the extremity of the urinogenital canal becomes adherent to and coalescent with the lower segment of the prepuce. In the mature female Hya?na crocuta the arrangement of the parts which constitute the external genital organs is almost identical with that which characterizes the genus Elephas, an arrangement which, so far as our present knowledge goes, is confined among mammals to one species of Hya?na and to the two species of Elephant K But not only does the orifice of the urinogenital canal, together with the extremity of the clitoris, undergo alteration in the female which has given birth to young as compared with the virgin; the entire perineal region undergoes a marked change in appearance. This change is due to the fact that in the former the perineal region becomes more flaccid and " baggy " in character. To this is attributable the fact that the "scrotal pouches" which I referred to in my previous paper as being prominent in the virgin, become less so in the female which has borne young; and consequently the resemblance which the external organs of the virgin female bear to those of the male becomes considerably modified subsequent to parturition. In the mature female, moreover, the glans clitoridis, instead of projecting beyond the free margin of the prepuce as in the virgin, becomes concealed within the flaccid folds of the latter, which, by reason of the " baggy " condition of the entire perineal region, is not so clearly defined from the surrounding integument as it is in the virgin. That this concealment of the clitoris of the adult female, as compared with that of the virgin, is not due to any diminution in size of the organ itself in the former, is shown by the fact that, whilst in the virgin which I first examined the clitoris measured 6g inches in length, and the penis of the male which I formerly examined measured 8 inches in length, in the female which had borne young I found that the clitoris measured 6^ inches in length, and the penis of the second and more mature male which I received from the Society's Gardens measured 9 inches in length. The dimension of the clitoris in both specimens is the same, whilst the relative size of the male and female organs are nearly alike in both cases. The lesser prominence of the clitoris in the female which had borne young is therefore attributable to the greater flaccidity of the tegumental folds surrounding it, consequent on parturition, rather than to any diminution in size of the clitoris itself. 1 Watson, " O n the Female Organs of the Proboscidea," Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. xi. |