54 THE STRUCTURE OF THE FOWL 



tinguishable, and of these the right is generally 

 the larger. Two faces may be recognised : a 

 parietal surface, convex and smooth, applied 

 to the body- wall ; and an irregularly concave 

 visceral surface moulded upon the adjacent 

 organs. On the visceral surface is the porta, 

 by which vessels and nerves reach the interior 

 and bile ducts find exit. 



The visceral surface of the right lobe carries 

 the gall-bladder in which the bile is temporarily 

 stored. Two ducts carry the bile into the 

 terminal part of the duodenum. That from 

 the right lobe possesses a diverticulum, the 

 gall-bladder ; while the duct from the left lobe 

 pursues an independent course. The presence 

 of two ducts is accounted for by the mode of 

 development of the liver. The first trace of 

 the organ is in the form of two (anterior and 

 posterior) solid buds thrust out from the 

 epithelium of the gut. These ramify and 

 become tubular, the definitive ducts marking 

 the original connections with the intestine. 



Microscopic examination of the liver of the 

 adult fowl reveals little but a closely com- 

 pacted mass of relatively large, polyhedral 

 and granular cells, with blood-vessels of some 

 size at intervals. There is none of the lobular 



