152 



it was provided with a valvular apparatus similar to that described in 

 the stomach of the Armadillo (p. 142.), consisting of a tubercle com- 

 posed of condensed cellular structure, which projected above the ori- 

 fice, and gave it a semilunar form. This valve, together with the 

 small size of the orifice, must contribute to retain the food in the 

 stomach until it has undergone complete digestion* It is difficult to 

 imagine that the cranial bones or vertebrae of fishes can pass through 

 this aperture, unless they are previously dissolved. Are they regur- 

 gitated, like the castings of Owls ? The transverse diameter of the 

 pylorus was half an inch, its vertical diameter not more than 2 lines ; 

 the diameter of the cardiac aperture was 1 inch and a half. 



'• The duodenum descends abruptly from the pylorus, and is con- 

 nected by a continuation of peritoneum with the pyloric end of the 

 stomach. It is contracted at its origin, but soon dilates, and a sac- 

 cuius is formed between its muscular and mucous coats for the recep- 

 tion of the biliary and pancreatic secretions, which afterwards are 

 conducted through a narrow passage into the intestine. Having de- 

 scended as far as the right kidney, the duodenum turns to the left in 

 the usual manner, but has a complete investment of peritoneum through 

 its whole course : at the left side of the abdomen it carries forward 

 this process of peritoneum, which forms the mesentery in the usual 

 manner. The small intestines do not exceed 1 inch and a half in 

 circumference, but their deficiency in this article of their dimensions 

 is compensated for by their great length. The large intestines com- 

 mence by a short round caecum, which in both instances was situated 

 close to the pyloric end of the stomach : the greatest circumference 

 of the colon was 4 inches. 



"The interior of the stomach was smooth and without rugae; the in- 

 testines had the same character. 



" The liver consisted of five lobes, which were remarkably elongated, 

 somewhat triedral, and pointed at the extremity. The gall-bladder, 

 2 inches and a half long, was lodged in the third lobe, counting 

 from the right -, the suspensory ligament entered another division of 

 this lobe. The gall-bladder received two small ducts directly from the 

 liver, or hepato-cystic ducts. The cystic duct was joined by a small 

 hepatic duct about half an inch from the gall-bladder -, and a little 

 lower down was joined by a larger hepatic duct, which was formed by 

 the junction of two other ducts, each of which was also formed by the 

 union of two ducts, coming distinctly from the four smaller lobes of 

 the liver. The ductus communis was 1 inch and a half long ; it was 

 joined by the pancreatic duct, as it terminated in the dilated sacculus 

 before mentioned. 



n The pancreas was composed of a large and a small portion of the 

 usual structure and in the usual situation. The spleen, a flattened 

 body with an irregular notched margin, measured 5 inches and a 

 half in length. It was attached to the epiploon in such a manner that 

 it could be drawn away for some distance from the stomach, and in 

 the intervening membrane were situated a number of small dark glan- 

 dular bodies from the size of a horse-bean to that of a pea, which, if 

 they had been met with in a Porpoise, I should have considered as 



