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Show 1881.] VAGINAL APPARATUS IN THE MACROPODID.E. 981 follows:-"Dans le Macropus, les culs-de-sac vaginaux comrr.uni-quent entre eux, et la cavite commune s'etend jusqu'au vestibule uretro-genital, mais sans y deboucher. G' est ce que f ai constate chez des femelles de Vespece M . major, qui avaient fait les petits au moins deux fois. Dans VHalmaturus, le cul-de-sac non seulement atteint le fond du vestibule uretro-genital, mais il y debouche, comme on l'a montre depuis longtemps." In 1867 Prof. Lucii1 published the result of his investigations made upon three females, two of which belonged to H. bennetti, and the third to II. Billardieri. The latter and one of the former were adult; and in both cases Lucii found a direct communication between the median vaginal portion and the urogenital sinus. In the third specimen, which was a not full-grown female, he found the median vaginal cul-de-sac closed. In 186'8 Prof. Owen's Comp. Anat. vol. iii. was published, in which the only reference to the subject is as follows (p. 683):-"In H. bennetti I found an aperture of communication between the median cul-de- sac and the urogenital canal; and, as the same structure has been observed in two other specimens, it is doubtless normal, at least after parturition. The fact, however, does not justify the conclusion that the lateral vaginal canals convey exclusively the semen for impregnation, and that the median canals, which, as a rule, are closed and distinct from each other, serve only to transmit the foetus to the urogenital passage." In 1869 Lucii2 published an account of his examination of a second adult specimen of H bennetti, which had a mammary foetus 2-2| inches long in the pouch. In this case also the median vaginal canal communicated with the urogenital sinus. In 1871 Prof. Pagenstecher3, of Heidelberg, published an article " Ueber den Embryo von M. major." This observer found a foetus in the left uterus ; and he says : - " dass Owen ganz Recht hat, indem er sagt dass bei M. major uberhaupt eine Communikation des mit-tleren Scheidenblindsacks mit dem von ihm als Vorhof bezeichneten Abschnitt nicht besteht, wogegen H. ruficollis {bennetti) die voll-standig offene Verbindung zeigt." In 1875, Prof. Garrod4, in speaking of //. luctuosus (Dorcopsis luctuosa) writes:-" The uterus is perfectly Macropine, as are the vaginae. No direct communication could be found between the uterine pouch of the vaginae and the common vaginal canal." In a paper by Brass5 published in 1880, examples of three genera of Macropodidse are described and figured. In no instance is it stated whether young had been born or not. A specimen of "Macropus giganteus" was found to have the median vaginal canal endin°- blindly ; and the figure shows its posterior end quite free from the urogenital chamber. 1 Der zool. Garten, viii. 1867, p. 418 & p. 471. 2 Der zool. Garten, x. 1809, p. 61. 3 Halle Zeitschrift, iii. 1871, p, 526. _ * P. Z. S. 1875, p. 57. 6 Beitriige zur Kenntniss des weiblichen Urogenital systems derMarsupialen, von Arnold Brass. Leipzig, 1880. |