These anomalies are particularly interesting, as they are nearly always found in male hermaphrodites, the fissure giving the appearance of a vulva, as the scrotum is sometimes included, and even the perineum may be fissured in continuity with the other parts, thus exaggerating the deception.

There seems to be an element of heredity in this malformation, and this allegation is exemplified by Sedgwick, who quotes a case from Heuremann in which a family of females had for generations given birth to males with hypospadias.

Belloc mentions a man whose urethra terminated at the base of the frenum who had four sons with the same deformity.

Picardat mentions a father and son, both of whom had double urethral orifices, one above the other, from one of which issued urine and from the other semen--a fact that shows the possibility of inheritance of this malformation.

Patients in whom the urethra opens at the root of the penis, the meatus being imperforate, are not necessarily impotent; as, for instance, Fournier knew of a man whose urethra opened posteriorly who was the father of four children.
Fournier supposed that the semen ejaculated vigorously and followed the fissure on the back of the penis to the uterus, the membrane of the vagina supplanting the deficient wall of the urethra.