116 DR. EMBLETON ON 



tlie gall duct opening, just below a small dilatation, which he names 

 stomach, into the duodenum, beneath which is a slight constric- 

 tion, marking off the duodenum from the rest of the alimentary 

 tube. The Professor, in noticing the existence of villi on the 

 lining membrane of the stomach, points them out as not remark- 

 able for their abundance, but he mentions the unusual length of 

 those in the duodenum. 



Our illustrious countryman, Ray, had long ago said that the 

 gall duct opens into the gastric cavity. From the examination 

 of the specimen before us, it must, I think, fairly be concluded 

 that Ray and Cuvier are correct, and their oj)inion is not alto- 

 gether unsupported by analogy, for according to Professor Owen, 

 {Lectures vol. ii. p. 244,) in the Bream, "the short cystic duct is 

 found opening into the fore part of the cardiac portion of the 

 stomach". This latter anatomist shows us also, that the want of 

 a distinct gastric compartment is chiefly confined to the lower 

 fishes, as the Lampreys, Myxines, and Sandprides, and in the 

 Lancelot, the lowest of all, it is especially remarkable ; that a 

 reticulate lining membrane rarely occurs in fishes, it is met with, 

 however, in the Sturgeon, and in the Gymnotus; and that villi 

 in the stomach are found more rarely still. It appears then, that 

 the Sunfish is rather an exception to the rule as regards its gas- 

 tric structure, and it would almost seem as if the characters of an 

 intestine had, in this fish, been continued up unusually high, so 

 as to deprive the stomach of a part of its speciality, and reduce 

 gastric digestion almost to its minimum. 



Judging from the conformation of the mouth, teeth, and tongue 

 one would be led to suppose the food of the Sunfish to be soft, 

 easily taken, not bulky, but of some sapidity ; from the enteric 

 form of the stomach, from the presence of gastric villi, from the 

 bile entering this part of the canal, and from the absence of 

 pyloric valve and pancreas, one would infer that the food is such 

 as to require little solution or digestion, that, indeed, it is sus- 

 ceptible of being at least partially absorbed as soon as it has been 

 swallowed. The structure of the mucous membrane, of the rest 

 of the f intestinal tube, shows it to be an apparatus highly 

 organised for absorption, but the tube is not very long, and has 



