ALIMENTARY CANAL OF KODEXTIA. 423 



compartment is of smaller dimensions, of a globular form, and 

 separated from the preceding, both by an external constriction 

 and an internal fold of the mucous membrane. There are, more- 

 over, two additional folds nearer to the pylorus, which seem 

 to form a third compartment. The Oryctere ( Ori/cterus) has its 

 stomach slightly different : its position is more longitudinal, so 

 that the left compartment is anterior, and the right posterior ; 

 the pyloric portion is short, cylindrical, and directed forward. 



In Capromys Fournieri the oesophagus, after a short course in 

 the abdomen, terminates in a stomach six inches long, about 2^ 

 inches from the left end : a pouch of the same extent is con- 

 tinued from the right of the pylorus, which is situated 1 J inches 



to the rio;ht of the cardia. 



~ 



In the Coypu (Myopotamus) the stomach closely resembles 

 that of Capromys., being of an oblong figure, both extremities 

 having pretty nearly the same volume ; the cardiac extremity 

 projects three inches beyond the entrance of the narrow ceso- 

 phagus, and the pyloric sacculus, a little more than two beyond 

 the pyloric orifice. The stomach, measured in a straight line from 

 end to end, is 7J inches ; its greatest depth 4-J inches. 



In the Agouti (Dasi/procta agouti), with a stomach 5J inches 

 long, the constriction dividing it into cardiac and pyloric por- 

 tions is deep : the latter bulges out on each side the pylorus so 

 as to make the duodenum commence from a central depres- 

 sion. The Paca ( Coelogenys) shows the same structure. In an 

 Acouchi the gastric constriction was not present or had relaxed. 

 In the Capybara the abdominal oesophagus is two inches in extent : 

 the greater curvature of the stomach is sometimes found puckered 

 into sacculi by contraction of a band of longitudinal fibres. 



In the Rabbit and Hare (Lepus, Lin.) the stomach is roundish, 

 bent in a quick curve, with the oesophagus entering nearer the 

 left or great end than the pyloric end : the left end adheres to 

 part of the abdominal oesophagus : it is usually found partially 

 constricted into two compartments, the pyloric being the thickest 

 and most muscular. The sides of this division have a well-marked 

 tendinous patch. 



The intestinal canal usually, in Rodents, begins by a well-marked 

 dilatation, and the whole duodenum is more continuously and 

 loosely suspended than in most higher Mammals. In the Dormice 

 {Myoxus) which hybernate like the bear, there is no ca3cum. In the 

 common Mouse and Rat (Mus, fig. 317) the crecum, k, /, is short, 

 wide, and bent ; the colon, />, reduced to the calibre of the ileum, 

 leaves the ca3cum, like the duodenum quitting the stomach. The 



