98 ELACATE CANADA. 



Splanchnology. The stomach is very large, and extends to the posterior third of the abdomen ; it 

 is rather rounded behind, and has large fasciculiof longitudinal and transverse muscular fibres, that 

 give to its mucous membrane a reticulated appearance ; this is, however, not permanent, but dis- 

 appears on distention. The pyloric portion of the stomach begins far back, about its pnsterio 

 third ; it is very short, and soon terminates in the duodenum, with a pyloric contraction well 

 marked externally. The duodenum has numerous and singular coscal appendages ; they are 

 placed on each side the intestine, and are about twenty-six in number, as principal trunks ; these 

 soon subdivide into branches, two or three each, and from these are given off others, so suddenly, 

 so numerous, and so minute, as to resemble a tassel ; or when they are bound to the trunk, from 

 which they arise, by peritoneum, they, with the trunk, resemble a common mushroom ; these 

 minute appendages are about a line in diameter, and from a quarter of an inch to an inch in 

 length ; and it is remarkable, that I have always found the entrance of most of them closed with a 

 very small, thread-like entozootic animal. The liver is very large, and in colour resembles that of 

 the ox ; it consists of a central or transverse portion, thick, large, and of two lobes, which are not 

 separated from it by fissures ; the lobes are full and round before, where they are in contact with 

 the diaphragm, and extend backwards to the anterior fourth of the abdomen, or a little more. The 

 gall-bladder is placed far back ; it is narrow, and seems only a slight development of the cystic 

 duct. The small intestine runs at first forwards, is then reflected backwards on the left of the 

 mesial line, nearly to the vent, whence it returns nearly to its point of departure, and then is re- 

 flected backward, to end in the large intestine, which is more capacious, but has thinner walls. 

 The spleen is large, flattened, sub-triquetral, of a dark purple colour, and situated far back. The 

 testicles are moderately long, obovate, large, and unite into one near the vent, to open by a com- 

 mon duct. The kidney is large, very thick, broader posteriorly, narrower anteriorl)', where it is 

 bilobed, each lobe running to the diaphragm, where it increases in size ; these lobes only come in 

 contact about the anterior third of the abdomen, where they unite into one ; yet the ureters remain 

 single to near their termination in the bladder, which is small, and seems only a slight development 

 of the conjoined ureters. 



Habits. The Cobia is a solitary fish ; it prefers deep and clear water, and is 

 only taken singly, and with the hook. It arrives on the coast of Carolina late in 

 May, and is occasionally captured until September, when it is no longer seen in 

 our waters. It is exceedingly voracious, and destroys many smaller fish, which 

 make its ordinary food ; though it does not reject crustaceous animals, as Dr. 

 Mitchill found in the stomach of one individual the remains of more than twenty 

 crabs, which led him to call it Crab-eater. 



