178 The Alligator and Its Allies 



from the mucosa of the middle region of the stom- 

 ach, the posterior border of the large stomach 

 cavity; A is a longitudinal section through two 

 ducts where they open to the surface; B is a 

 similar section through the body of a gland below 

 the region of the duct ; C is a transsection through 

 the bottom or fundus of a gland; all are drawn 

 with a camera under the same magnification. 



As is seen in Figure 45, under low magnification, 

 the duct is about one third of the entire length of 

 the gland. The lumen of the duct is fairly wide, 

 that of the body of the gland is reduced to a mere 

 slit, while that of the fundus is quite wide. 



One, two, or possibly more, glands may open to 

 the surface through one duct, as is shown in Figure 

 46. There is nothing peculiar about the epithe- 

 lium of these glands. Near the opening of the 

 duct the cells are of a typical columnar character 

 with finely granular cytoplasm, each with a nucleus 

 at its basal end. 



In the deeper parts of the duct the cells become 

 shorter until in the body of the gland (Fig. 46, B) 

 they are cuboidal in outline. 



The bodies of the glands are so closely packed 

 together that it is difficult to pick out an individual 

 tube that will show details clearly enough to draw 

 with a camera lucida. So far as could be observed 

 all of the cells of this region of the gland are alike. 



The bottom or fundus of the gland, as seen in 

 Figure 46, C, is somewhat enlarged and has a wide 



