SUPRA-RENAL CAPSULES. 



829 



capsules of serpents are likewise distinctly 

 tabulated, and very vascular. In other re- 

 spects, too, the arrangement of the vascular 

 system exhibits much that is interesting ; but 

 to this we shall hereafter return. They 

 always lie closely on the venae renales abdu- 

 centes ; and, according to the course taken 

 by the vessels just named, they are sometimes 

 nearer, sometimes farther from, the testicles 

 and ovary. 



Batrachia. Formerly many zootomists 

 regarded as supra-renal capsules those pecu- 

 liar yellow finger-shaped masses of fat, which, 

 in these animals, lie superficially to the kid- 

 neys, and possess a connection with the sexual 

 organs, in the periodical increase of which 

 they take a share. Only recently have the 

 true supra-renal capsules been recognised ; 

 and to these the fatty bodies just mentioned 

 have not the remotest resemblance. To 

 Rathke*, Retziusf, Gruby J, and others, we 

 owe the discovery and description of these 

 organs ; the signification of which receives 

 an additional and complete confirmation from 

 minute anatomy, as will be hereafter shown. 

 Here the supra-renal capsules no longer form 

 an organ anatomically defined, but are imme- 

 diately deposited on the abdominal surface of 

 the substance of the kidneys. 



Among the tailless Batrachia, they appear 

 in this situation as a golden-yellow streak, 

 which does not extend the whole length of 

 the kidney, but ceases at a distance of one 

 line from its upper, and of two lines from its 

 lower, end. These supra-renal organs also 

 allow a lobular composition to be very dis- 

 tinctly discerned ; and they do not extend 

 along the kidney in a straight line, but usually 

 digress into the arched form. They surround 

 the trunks of the efferent renal veins at their 

 exit from the substance of the kidney ; so 

 that they seem to be, as it were, perforated 

 by this vessel. By a more careful investiga- 

 tion one may satisfy one's self that the glands 

 are really imbedded in the coats of these 

 vessels. In the tailed Batrachia, on the 

 other hand, we no longer find the supra-ren;il 

 capsules in the shape of this connected streak, 

 but broken up on all sides into from twenty 

 to thirty separate and irregular lobules. These 

 are seated, partly in the substance of the 

 kidney at its inner bonier, partly between 

 the kidney and the inferior cava ; while they 

 are also partly deposited on the coats of the 

 latter vessel, and the gland-lobules have the 

 same relation to the efferent renal veins as in 

 the tailless Batrachians. 



Finally, amongst all the -orders of Reptilia, 

 the supra- renal capsules are least recognised 

 in the Chdonla. The statements formerly 

 made by Bojanus , that the supra-renal cap- 



* Beitrage zur Gcschichte der Thienvelt, Dritto 

 Abtheilung, Halle, 1825, S. 34. 



t Vide the treatise of Nagel. 



J Annales des Sciences Naturellcs. Zoologie, 

 Seconde Serie, torn. xvii. p. 209. 



Anatorne Testudinis, Wilnte, 181921. Folio 

 cum tab. 



sules were two long bodies, situated at the 

 inner margin of the kidneys, and a similar 

 statement of Nagel *, have been lately cor- 

 rected by Ecker.f According to the last in- 

 quirer, the supra-renal capsules of the Tcs- 

 tudo gr<zca altogether correspond, both as 

 regards form and situation, with the similar 

 organs of the Frog ; since they lie on the 

 abdominal surface of the kidney, imbedded in 

 its mass, and extend almost the whole length 

 of this organ. 



In Fishes the supra-renal capsules again 

 appear ; but, as regards their situation, form, 

 and number, they are much more diverse than 

 in the other Vertebrata. The supra-renal 

 organs of the cartilaginous fishes were dis- 

 covered, a long time ago, by Retzius. f For 

 a knowledge of them in the osseous fishes, we 

 are especially indebted to Stannius and Ecker. 



In the osseous fishes they appear as small, 

 whitish corpuscles, of the size of from a pin's 

 head to a pea. Their form is, in general, 

 roundish or oval ; their surface is sometimes 

 smooth, sometimes rugged, and broken up 

 into lobules, as is the case in the Pike. Ac- 

 cording to the observations of Stannius, they 

 have not unfrequently a kidney-shaped form 

 in the Haddock; and, according to Ecker, 

 they are sometimes triangular in the Salmon. 



The number and situation of the supra- 

 renal capsules varies greatly in this group of 

 fishes. The presence of two supra-renal 

 capsules ought to be regarded as the rule. 

 They usually lie symmetrically in both halves 

 of the body, as in the higher animals ; they 

 may also occur a-symmetrically, or only in one 

 half of the body, as in the genus Pleuro- 

 nectcs ; or they may be behind each other, as 

 in the genus Scomber. 



But frequently, the supra-renal capsules are 

 present in great number ; in which case their 

 position becomes altogether irregular. Thus 

 one meets with three, four, six, or even more 

 supra-renal organs ; and Ecker has observed 

 as many as six in the Salmon. In the Pike, in 

 which only two to three supra-renal capsules 

 are present in the adult animal, the inquirer 

 just mentioned found that, in a young animal 

 of one foot in length, the whole kidney was 

 beset with a great number of very small supra- 

 renal organs. I have myself remarked the 

 same condition, and occurring exactly in the 

 manner described, in two Pikes of the same 

 size : but, on the other hand, in another in- 

 stance it was absent. 



As to the situation of the supra-renal 

 organs in the bony fishes, this also is subject 

 to very great differences. Sometimes these 

 glands lie more on the abdominal, sometimes 

 on the spinal, surface of the kidneys. The 

 former seems more frequently to happen ; and 

 in this case they generally project at the 

 hinder end of the kidney, from the anterior 

 margin of the ha;mal canal of the inferior 



* Loc. cit. 

 f Loc. cit. 



1 Observationcs in Anatomiam Chondroptery- 

 gyiorum. Luud. 1819, 4to. 



