ANIMAL ANOMALIES 229 



all appearances the diaphragm had not completed its development, 

 but had formed a fringelike projection which reached inward about 

 half an inch from the thoracic wall and extended the entire cir- 

 cumference of the inside of the thorax. The aperture in its center 

 measured one and three-fourths inches in diameter. 



Due to this condition the arrangement of several visceral organs 

 was greatly affected. The thorax was somewhat elongated, and the 

 right side of the cavity comprised about two-thirds of the space 

 of the chest. The mediastinum (supporting median mesentery of 

 heart and lungs) had its attachment more than half an inch to the 

 left of the midline. 



Almost the entire liver was turned forward to occupy the right 

 two-thirds of the chest cavity, and this placed the gall bladder at 

 the level of the junction of the auricle and ventricle of the heart. 

 Approximately half of the spleen, the pyloric portion of the stom- 

 ach, and a large portion of the omentum had been drawn through 

 the aperture in the diaphragm. The right lung was extremely 

 crowded and small. 



Polydactyly (Extra Digits) 



There are numerous abnormal variations in the number and ar- 

 rangement of digits, ranging from a stumplike structure of no digits 

 through the ''lobster claw" condition of two or three, to as many 

 as two more than normal. The polydactylous condition is rather 







Itl 



1*l:;l. •# 



Fig. 69. — Front feet of a half-grown kitten with six digits. The claws are pro- 

 tracted on the left foot and retracted on the right. There were five toes on the 

 hind feet of this cat. 



frequently found in cats. In fact, Wilder once reported that pos- 

 sibly 25, per cent of the cats of the vicinity of Ithaca, N. Y., possessed 

 an extra digit on each foot. The forefeet shown in Fig. 69 are 

 from a living cat in Waco, Texas, which came from a litter of four. 



