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Abstract

The rabbit has a uterus duplex with two separate cervices. The endometrium forms a series of longitudinal ridges or folds with cross furrows. Seen somewhat ideally one can recognize 3 pairs of longitudinal ridges: to either side of the axis of symmetry which runs from the mesometrium to the opposite (antimesometrial) side lies a placental fold, an obplacental fold and a paraplacental fold (Duval, 1889a; Minot, 1889; Doorman, 1893; Assheton, 1895; Klein, 1933; Denker, 1970a; Beier, 1973). The placental fold is the most developed even in the non-pregnant animal. As scanning electron microscopical studies impressively show, the longitudinal ridges are divided up by cross furrowing (Busch et al., 1977). This is particularly obvious in non-pregnant animals, which results in our not always seeing the typical pattern of 2 × 3 ridges in cross sections of such uteri (Denker, 1970a).