300 



MARSUP1ALIA. 



Fig. 122. 



Alimentary canal, Phascogale flavipes. 



internal surface of the left cul-de-sac was quite 

 smooth and villous (?), while the right half of 

 the stomach was entirely covered internally with 

 rugae, running chiefly in a longitudinal direc- 

 tion, and particularly numerous towards the 

 pylorus."* 



The stomach in the Wombat and Koala does 

 not materially differ in external figure from that 

 of the above-cited Marsupials ; the oesophagus 

 terminates nearly midway between the right and 

 left extremities, but further from the pylorus in the 

 Wombat than in the Koala. The conglomerate 

 gastric gland is of a flattened ovate form, rela- 

 tively larger in the Wombat than in the Koala, 

 situated to the left of the cardiac orifice, at the 

 lesser curvature of the stomach (fig. 123). 

 The gastric gland has a similar position in the 



Fig. 123. 



Beaver, but in this animal the excretory orifices 

 of the gland are arranged in three longitudinal 

 rows, while in the Wombat and Koala they 

 are scattered irregularly ; in the Wombat they 

 are about thirty in number, and the bottoms of 

 the larger depressions are subdivided into 

 smaller cells. In the partially contracted state 

 the inner membrane of the stomach of the 

 Wombat, as represented in the figure, is dis- 

 posed in pretty regular longitudinal rugae, 

 which gradually subside towards the pylorus ; 

 but when the stomach is distended these folds 

 disappear, and the left extremity presents a full 

 globular form. In the Wombat dissected by 

 me the oesophagus terminated nearer the py- 

 lorus than is represented in the figure here 

 given from the Comparative Anatomy of Sir 

 Everard Home. 



The sacculated stomach of the Kangaroo, 

 which offers the extreme modification of this 

 organ in the Marsupial order, resembles the 

 human colon both in its longitudinal extent, 

 structure, and disposition in the abdomen. 

 The natural relative position of this singular 

 viscus is, however, very different from that 

 described by Sir Everard Home,* who evi- 

 dently has taken his account from the drawing 

 by Mr. Clift, from which our^o.124 is taken : 

 the object of this drawing, however, being to 

 pourtray the modifications of the inner surface 

 of the Kangaroo's stomach, it is artificially dis- 

 posed accordingly. In a full-grown female 

 Kangaroo ( Macrapus major), I found the 

 abdominal oesophagus four inches long, and 

 terminating at six inches distance from the left 

 extremity of the stomach : this extremity was 

 folded forwards and to the right in front of the 

 oesophagus ; from the basis of the left cul-de- 

 sac the stomach continued to expand, and 

 descended into the left lumbar and iliac regions, 

 whence it stretched upwards and to the right 

 side obliquely across the abdomen, to the right 

 hypochondrium, where it became contracted 



Fig. 124. 



Stomach of the Wombat, inverted, 

 * Werncrian Transactions, vol. vi. p. 199. 



Stomach of the Kangaroo. 



and finally bent downwards and backwards to 

 terminate in the duodenum. The whole length 

 of the stomach, following its curvatures, was 

 three feet six inches, equalling that of the ani- 

 mal itself from the muzzle to the vent. 



* Lectures on Comp. Anatomy, i. p. 156. 



