538 Mr. W. S. Macleay's Anatomical Observations 



The pharynx is lower than the anal orifice, but is not, as in 

 the B. oviformis of Savigny, at the lowest part of the cavity of 

 the body ; neither is the anus descending, as he represents it in 

 that animal. The oesophagus descends, and conducts to a simple 

 ascending stomach, provided with an ample liver, composed of 

 many irregular lobes, the surface of which is minutely papillose 

 or composed of rounded grains, which at first sight resemble 

 ova. The larger lobes of the liver are attached to that part of 

 the stomach which is nearest to the pylorus, i. e. highest. M. Sa- 

 vigny has denied the presence of a liver in his species of Bol- 

 tenia, and has even made its absence to be one of the characters 

 of the genus* ! If he be correct in this observation, which a per- 

 son who has had so many opportunities as I have had, to admire 

 his consummate accuracy, can scarcely doubt, then there is a very 

 important difference between his two species and mine ; so im- 

 portant, indeed, as to render me most desirous of having an op- 

 portunity of examining the B. oviformis anatomically. — But to 

 proceed with the details of B. reniformis : its long intestine 

 mounts up as high as the base of the pedicle, and then descends 

 nearly parallel to itself, and terminates in an ascending conical 

 rectum and scolloped anus. There are two ovaries, unequal in 

 size, but both placed longitudinally, so as to terminate near the 

 anal orifice. The smaller ovarium is on the side of the intestines, 

 fitting closely into the ascending loop formed by the stomach and 

 intestine. It is clavate, rather straight, and formed, towards the 

 extremity, of sub-cubical lobes, which contain the ova. The larger 

 ovary is on the opposite side, between the mantle and branchial 

 pouch : it is undulated, and not so lobated as the other. All 



* In that part of the article Mollusca, in the Supplement to the Encyclopcedia Bri- 

 tannica, which relates to these animals, and which, by the bye, is little more than a 

 transcript of Savigny's admirable memoirs, we find the genus Boltenia characterized 

 as having no liver. 



these 



