136 ELEMENTS OF MAMMALIAN ANATOMY 



fat, depending from the stomach and covering the intestines 

 Hke an apron, is the greater omentum. It is a portion of the 

 peritoneum which Hncs the abdominal cavity and invests most 

 of the organs therein. The pancreas is a pinkish elongate 

 body, bent at a right angle near its middle, so that one portion 

 lies in the bend of the duodenum and the other dorsal to the 

 stomach. The kidneys may be recognized by their well-known 

 shape and dorsal location in the cranial lumbar region. The 

 ovaries are small pinkish bodies lying near the kidneys, adja- 

 cent to the dorsal abdominal wall. The uterus is easily known 

 by its two horns extending caudad from the ovaries to their 

 junction at the body of the uterus. The bladder, if full of 

 urine, is at once recognized; and if empty, appears as a small 

 hard pear-shaped mass ventrad to the rectum (Fig. 61). 



ESOPHAGUS 



The esophagus or gullet is that portion of the alimentary 

 canal leading from the pharynx to the stomach. In the thoracic 

 cavity it lies dorsal to the heart (Fig. 61) by the side of the 

 aorta. Immediately caudad of the diaphragm it opens into 

 the cardiac end of the stomach (Fig. 66). 



STOMACH 



The stomach is that dilated portion of the canal lying im- 

 mediately caudad of the diaphragm on the left side. The 

 esophageal end of the stomach is known as the cardiac portion, 

 and the intestinal end is the pyloric portion (Fig. 66). Here 

 a circular fold of mucous membrane embraced by a sphincter 

 muscle serves as a valve to open and close the pylorus or gate- 

 way to the intestine. The dorsal surface of the stomach is 

 its lesser curvature and the ventral convex surface is its greater 

 curvature. The structure of the walls of the stomach is 

 described below. 



