75 



it was considered improper to propose regarding it as a distinct 

 species. 



A stuffed specimen and a skeleton of the Acouchy (Dasyprocta 

 Acuschy, Illig.) having been laid on the table, the following notes 

 on the anatomy of that animal were read by Mr. Owen. 



" The subjects examined were the male and female Acouchies 

 which were exhibited to the Committee on the 23d of November 

 last by Mr. T. Bell, in whose possession they remained alive till 

 May, when they both died in one of the remarkably cold nights of 

 that month. 



" The following circumstances were common to both animals. 



" On laying open the cavity of the abdomen the intestines were 

 found to be generally adherent to each other and to the parietes of 

 the cavity, arising from recently effused lymph : they were also of 

 an unusually dark colour, owing to their contents. 



" The stomach consisted of a simple cavity, of a full oval shape, 

 without any contraction between the cardiac and pyloric portions. 

 The oesophagus had a course of nearly an inch within the abdomen 

 before its termination. This is a circumstance worthy of notice, and 

 which occurs in a marked degree in most of the Rodentia. The 

 inner cuticular membrane of this part terminated abruptly at the 

 cardia. The villous coat of the stomach was without rugce, and of 

 a gray colour, whilst that of the intestines immediately beyond the 

 pylorus was stained of a very dark colour ; showing that the pylorus 

 had acted as a very effectual valve. 



" The ccecum was of a capacious size, and had the same sacculated 

 appearance as in the Guinea-pig ; it occupied the whole of the iliac, 

 lumbar, and part of the hypochondriac regions of the right side, 

 and was disposed in a sigmoid form j the colon at its commencement 

 followed the curvatures of the ccecum, and was attached to it by a 

 continuation of the peritoneal membrane ; about six inches from the 

 ccecum thejceces became divided into pellets. The ccecum itself was 

 filled by a black tough pultaceous mass, of a slightly acid odour ; 

 and the same coloured matter, but in a more fluid state, was con- 

 tained in a greater or less quantity throughout the small intestines. 



* The liver consisted of four principal divisions and a lobulus 

 Spigelii ; the gall-bladder was imbedded in a cleft in the right di- 

 vision, and contained a small quantity of dark-coloured watry fluid. 

 The pancreas consisted of two separate lobes. The spleen was of a 

 very dark colour, pointed at the lower extremity, and about one 

 inch and eight lines in length. 



" The kidneys were prominently situated in the hypochondriac 

 regions, the right being nearer to the diaphragm by one half it* 

 length than the left. Each was about one inch in length and con- 

 globate. The supra-renal glands were of an oval shape, six lines by 

 two in their dimensions, situated anterior to the upper extremities 

 of the kidneys, but unattaehed to them ; the right closely adhering 

 to the vena cava inferior, the left to the vena emulgens of its own side 



" The viscera of the chest, like thoje of the abdomen, presented 

 traces of general inflammatory action. 



