IIAPLODONTID^— VISCERA OF HAPLODON KUFUS. 



587 



cesophagus enters at the notch. On inflating the organ, the elongated taper- 

 ing cardiac extremity curls like a horn around to the right, and comes in 

 apposition with the pyloric end, when the stomach appears doubled on itself; 

 in fact, the two ends pass each other for an inch or more. The greater 

 curvature of the stomach is then nearly circular, the line of the short upper 

 border being a spiral. The cardiac end tapers gradually to a blunt, rounded 

 extremity; the pyloric portion is much shorter; there is a well-marked 

 pyloric constriction uear the end. The organ may be distended to measure 

 about eleven inches around the greater curvature, with a maximum diameter 

 of three inches and a depth of two. The pyloric portion of the stomach is 

 thicker-walled than the cardiac prolongation, and, as well as can be deter- 

 mined with a hand-lens of low power, much more highly glandular ; the 

 lining of the cardiac compartment being similar apparently to that of the 

 oesophagus. I observe no fold of membrane to constitute a pyloric valve, 

 though there is a constriction of the whole organ, apparent from the outside, 

 close by the pyloric end. 



When the convolutions of the s?nall intestines are straightened out 

 without undue stretching, and the bowel is moderately distended, this 

 portion of the digestive tract measures about six feet in length, with a 

 uniform calibre of half an inch or more. There is no distinction of duodenum, 

 jejunum, and ileum. The ducts of the pancreatic and hepatic secretion 

 pierce the intestine close to the stomach ; the latter duct about an inch from 

 the pylorus. The ileum pierces the colon at a right angle. A circular fold 

 of mucous membrane forms a valve to guard the entrance. 



There is an immense cacum, at least a foot long, and very capacious. 

 In its most dilated portions, about the middle, a section of it equal to the 

 stomach in length would contain quite as much as the latter. The extremity 

 tapers, ending bluntly, without a vermiform appendage (very naturally). 

 This portion of the alimentary canal makes several convolutions when in 

 situ ; it is sacculated throughout, or with alternate constrictions and dilata- 

 tions, like the human colon. 



The length of the remainder of the digestive tube is about five feet,* 

 measured as already said. This portion of the canal presents no distinction 

 of colon and rectum. It is of uniform calibre throughout, or nearly so, and 

 not much more capacious than the small intestine — perhaps half as much 



" Making the total leugth of the intestinal tract about eleven feet. The animal being about a 

 foot long, it follows that the intestines are about eleven times as long as the body. 



