458 



ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES. 



ft. in. 



<>f thr small intestines . . . . 38 



Circumference of ditto ....... 2 



LrllLit ll u!' i-;crlim ........ 1 6 



Circumference of caecum . . . . . .50 



Circumference of colon ....... 6 



Length of colon and rectum together . . . . 20 



Total length of intestinal canal, exclusive of the caecum . 58 6 



336. Alimentary canal of Perissodactyla.--In all this order 

 the stomach has the ordinary simple outward form ; the csecum 

 and large intestine are capacious and sacculate. In the Tapir 1 

 the oesophagus ends about one third from the left end of the 

 stomach : its thick epithelium is continued for the extent of 

 3 inches to the left of the cardia, and for that of 7 inches 

 to the right, toward the pylorus : the rest of the stomach has 

 a compact villous surface with a few narrow well-defined rugae : 

 the "-astro-mucous membrane increases in thickness, through 



O * O 



lengthening of the gastric tubules, as it nears the pylorus. The 

 stomach of the Sumatran Tapir presents a similar disposition and 

 proportion of the cuticular lining. The pyloric part of the 

 stomach shows a tendinous lustre on each side. In one subject 

 the length of the stomach in a right line, was 1 foot 8 inches. In 

 the duodenum of the American Tapir, the mucous coat is raised 

 into transverse folds, along an extent of gut of about 5 inches : in 

 the rest of the small intestines it is smooth and even. In the 

 Sumatran species the valvulae conniventes are continued along a 

 greater extent of the beginning of the small intestine, and re- 

 appear toward the caecum. The length of this cavity is 1 foot, 

 and its greatest breadth the same : it is honeycombed internally, 

 and its lining membrane developes short obtuse processes. The 



length of the small intestines in 

 the Sumatran Tapir is 69 feet: 

 in the American species 45 feet : 

 the length of the large intes- 

 tines in the Sumatran Tapir is 

 20 feet, but in the American 

 kind only 10 feet. The compa- 

 rative shortness of the intestinal 

 canal in the American Tapir is 

 a specific difference not explica- 

 ble on any observed or known 

 difference of food or habits. 

 In all the Erjuidce, the stomach is simple, differing from that in 

 Man by the pyloric part, fig. 358, d, being less contracted and 



1 The species dissected were the common one (Tapirus Amcricmnis, Gmelin), CLII". 

 p. 161, and the Tapir-its 



Stomach of the Ilor.^c. rxxii' 



