An introduction to the study of mammals living and extinctLydekker, Richard
Science
An introduction to the study of mammals living and extinct
Lydekker, Richard
Mammals
_Testes._—In the male the testes retain nearly their primitive or
internal position throughout life in the Monotremata, Sirenia, Cetacea,
most Edentata, Hyracoidea, Proboscidea, and Seals, but, in other groups
they either periodically (as in Rodentia, Insectivora, and Chiroptera)
or permanently pass out of the abdominal cavity through the inguinal
canal, forming a projection beneath the skin of the perineum, or becoming
suspended in a distinct pouch of integument called the scrotum. All the
Marsupials have a pedunculated scrotum, the position of which differs
from that of other mammals, being in front of, instead of behind, the
preputial orifice. As regards the presence, absence, or comparative size
and number of the accessory generative glands—prostate, vesicular, and
Cowper’s glands, as they are called—there is much variation in different
groups of mammals.
_Penis._—The penis is almost always completely developed, consisting of
two corpora cavernosa attached to the ischial bones, and of a median
corpus spongiosum enclosing the urethra, and forming the glans at
the distal portion of the organ. In Marsupials, Monotremes, and the
Sloths and Anteaters, the corpora cavernosa are not attached directly
to the ischia, and in the last-named the penis is otherwise of a very
rudimentary character, the corpus spongiosum not being present. In many
Marsupials the glans penis is bifurcated. In most Primates, Carnivora,
Rodentia, Insectivora, and Chiroptera, but in no other orders, an _os
penis_ is present.
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