Prof. Owen on the Anatomy of the Walrus. 227 



remarked that the odour of the visceral cavities and parts in this 

 "Wahus resembled more that of ordinary land quadrupeds than the 

 peculiar odour noticed in the dissection of Seals ; but the flesh of the 

 Walrus was dark coloured, as in the Seal tribe : the young animal 

 dissected, had been fed, since its captivity, on oatmeal, milk, and 

 water. The stomach had the form of an elongated siphon closely 

 bent upon itself. The liver was divided into seven lobes. There 

 was a large gall-bladder. The intestines in this young animal, which 

 did not exceed four feet in length, were seventy-five feet long, the 

 great intestine being only one foot in length, and the ccecum coli 

 one inch and a half. The kidneys were very complex, each being 

 made up of about 400 small kidneys or renules, and each of these 

 showing the normal structure of a simple kidney, such as is found in 

 the dog or lion, viz. with the cortical and medullary part, the pelvis, 

 mammilla and ureter. In the description of the viscera of the chest, 

 the large thymus gland was noticed, and the notched or serrated cha- 

 racter of the anterior margin of the lungs. The foramen ovale and 

 ductus arteriosus were both obliterated. 



The following is the description of the heart of the Walrus : — 

 The blood is returned into the right auricle by a large precaval and 

 postcaval vein, and by the coronary vein, which terminates close to 

 the latter : there is a small semilunar valve at the coronary orifice, 

 but no eustachian valve. A broad crescentic fold, looking down- 

 wards, divides the sinus or fossa receiving the precaval vein, from 

 the larger and deeper one receiving the postcaval vein : this fold 

 answers to the upper border of the * fossa ovalis' in the human heart ; 

 there is no orifice in the ' fossa ' communicating with the left auricle. 

 The appendix of the auricle extends in front of the base of the aorta 

 as far as the pulmonary artery ; it gradually contracts to an obtuse 

 point : in the Cystophora proboscidea the auricular appendix is short, 

 broad and bifid ; in both it is occupied by a reticular arrangement of 

 carnese columnae. The ventricles are broader in proportion to their 

 length, and the apex is not produced, as in the Cystophora proboscis 

 dea : the carnese columnse of the anterior division of the tricuspid 

 valve, and a few of those of the right or external division, are attached 

 to a short and thick fleshy column from the free wall of the ventricle ; 

 this column is connected by a short and thick * trabecula ' with the 

 septum : most of the other tendinous chords are attached to the sep- 

 tum ; and a few to trabeculse connecting that fixed wall with the free 

 wall of the ventricle. The pulmonary artery presents no peculiarity ; 

 it is connected by the ligamentous remnant of the 'ductus arteriosus,' 

 which is 10 lines long and 5 lines in diameter, to the under part of 

 the aortic arch, just beyond the origin of the left subclavian; its 

 cavity is obliterated, but a short, thick, semilunar fold of the lining 

 membrane of the aorta, with its concavity turned towards the end of 

 the arch, indicates the place of the former foetal communicating chan- 

 nel. The left auricle and ventricle oifer no peculiarities. The coats 

 of the aortic arch are thickest near the origins of the great vessels 

 sent to the head and fore-limbs, especially at the lower part of the 

 arch, where they are 3 lines thick. The right subclavian and carotid 

 Urise close together, but scarcely from a common trunk: the left 



15* 



