The Pelvic Reproductive Organs
The deferent ducts take their usual courses to penetrate the body of the prostate before opening into the urethra on the summit of a low papilla (Fig. 35.8/5). They do not expand to form ampullae and in the last part of their courses are covered by the very large vesicular glands that open beside them (Fig.
35.8/7). Only small parts of these glands are contained within the pelvic cavity; the bulk protrudes into the abdomen, beyond the neck of the bladder (Fig. 35.6/7), and is enclosed within the genital folds. In addition to a modest irregular body, the prostate (Fig. 35.8/8) possesses a large disseminate part spread within the wall of the pelvic urethra.The bulbourethral glands are remarkable for their shape and size. They lie dorsolateral to the pelvic urethra and are sufficiently long to touch the vesicular glands (Fig. 35.8A/11 and see Fig. 35.6/8). Each drains through a dilated, sometimes duplicated duct that opens onto the thickening that separates a dorsal diverticulum from the lumen of the urethra where this bends around the ischial arch. The glands are covered by the bulboglandularis muscles, whose contraction secures their evacuation (Fig. 35.8A/12). The caudal ends of the glands may be palpated per rectum. The ability to touch the urethra between them is diagnostic of the castrate (Fig. 35.8B); inability to do this in the absence of palpable testes suggests cryptorchidism.