184 The Alligator and Its Allies 



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ing stage, the mucosa is relatively the thickest in 

 the anterior regions and diminishes in thickness 



caudad; but while, 

 in the hibernating 

 stage, it forms, in 

 the anterior region, 

 as much as half of 

 the entire thickness 

 of the wall, in the 

 feeding condition it 

 forms, in the same 

 region, at least two 

 thirds of the entire 

 wall and in the mid- 

 dle and posterior 

 regions more than 

 half of the wall. 



The feeding ani- 

 mals being the smal- 

 ler, the diameter of 

 the intestine was 

 considerably less 

 than in the hiber- 

 nating stage ; but 

 the actual thickness 

 of the mucosa was practically the same, so that 

 the difference in diameter was due to the difference 

 in the thickness of the muscular and fibrous layers. 

 It is therefore probable that the differences noted 

 above are due rather to the differences in the size 



FIG. 50. Part of the mucous mem- 

 brane of the anterior region of the small 

 intestine of the hibernating animal, under 

 high magnification. The upper part of 

 the figure shows a part of a gland cut 

 longitudinally, the lower part of the figure 

 shows another gland cut transversely; 

 e, epithelium; tp, tunica propria. 



