The round ligament is a cord of unstriped muscle which runs from the lateral angle of its own side of the uterus forward to the internal abdominal ring, and so through the inguinal canal to the upper part of the labium majus.
The epoophoron or parovarium is a collection of short tubes which radiate from the upper border of the ovary when the broad ligament is pulled out as in fig. 2. It is best seen in very young children and represents the vasa efferentia in the male. Near the ovary the tubes are closed, but nearer the Fallopian tube they open into another tube which is nearly at right angles to them, and runs toward the uterus, though in the human subject it is generally lost before reaching that organ. It is known as the duct of Gartner, and is the homologue of the male epididymis and vas deferens. Some of the outermost tubules of the epoophoron are sometimes distended to form hydatids. Nearer the uterus than the epoophoron a few scattered tubules (paroophoron) are occasion ally found which are looked upon as the homologue of the organ of Giraldes in the male.
The vagina is a dilatable muscular passage, lined with mucous membrane, which leads from the uterus to the external genera tive organs; its direction is, from the uterus, downward and forward, and its anterior and posterior walls are in contact, so that in a horizontal section it appears as a transverse slit. As the orifice is neared the slit becomes H-shaped. Owing to the fact that the neck of the uterus enters the vagina from in front, the anterior wall of that tube is only about while the posterior is 31. The mucous membrane is raised into a series of transverse f olds or rugae, and between it and the muscular wall are plexuses of veins forming erectile tissue. The relation of the vagina to the peritoneum is noticed under COELOM AND SEROUS MEMBRANES.
The vulva or pudendum comprises all the female external generative organs, and consists of the mons Veneris, labia majora and minora, clitoris, urethral orifice, hymen, bulbs of the vestibule, and glands of Bartholin. The mons Veneris is the elevation in front of the pubic bones covered by hair in the adult. The labia
majora are two folds of skin, containing fibro-fatty tissue and covered on their outer surfaces by hair, running down from the mons Veneris to within an inch of the anus and touching one another by their internal surfaces. They are the homologues of the scrotum in the male. The labia minora are two folds of skin containing no fat, which are usually hidden by the labia majora and above enclose the clitoris, they are of a pinkish colour and look like mucous membrane.
The clitoris is the representative of the penis, and consists of two corpora cavernosa which posteriorly diverge to form the crura clitoridis, and are attached to the ischium; the organ is about an inch and a half long, and ends anteriorly in a rudi mentary glans which is covered by the junction of the labia minora; this junction forms the prepuce of the clitoris.
The orifice of the urethra is about an inch below the glans clitoridis and is slightly puckered.
The hymen is a fold of mucous membrane which surrounds the orifice of the vagina and is usually only seen in the virgin. As has been pointed out above, it is represented in the male by the fold at the opening of the uterus masculinus.
The bulbs of the vestibule are two masses of erectile tissue situated one on each side of the vaginal orifice : above they are continued up to the clitoris; they represent the bulb and the corpus spongiosum of the male, split into two, and the fact that they are so divided accounts for the urethra failing to be enclosed in the clitoris as it is in the penis.
The glands of Bartholin are two oval bodies about half an inch long, lying on each side of the vagina close to its opening ; they represent Cowper's glands in the male, and their ducts open by minute orifices between the hymen and the labia minora.
From the foregoing it will be seen that all the parts of the male external genital organs are represented in the female, though usually in a less developed condition, and that, owing to the orifice of the vagina, they retain their original bilateral form.