24 







the optic ganglions, dilates into a capacious pouch or crop {t. pi. 4.), which is 

 of a pyriform figure, two inches and three lines long, and an inch in diameter at 

 the broadest part. From the bottom of this crop there is continued a contracted 

 canal (m. pi. 4.) of about three Unes diameter, and half an inch in length, which 

 enters the upper part of an oval gizzard {v. pi. 4.) situated at the bottom of the 

 palhal sac. Close to where this tube terminates, the intestine {w. w. pi. 4.) 

 commences, and after a course of a few Unes communicates with a small round 

 laminated pouch {y. pi. 4.), analogous to the spiral caecum of the Cuttle-fish, 

 and into which the biliary secretion is poured. From this appendage the intes- 

 tine is continued, without varying materially in its dimensions, to its termination; 

 first ascending for about an inch and a half, then making a sudden bend down 

 towards the bottom of the sac, and returning as abruptly upon itself, passing 

 close to the pericardium, and terminating midway between the branchi8e at the 

 base of the funnel. 



The alimentary canal is everywhere connected to the parietes of the abdomen 

 by numerous filaments : the only trace of a mesentery exists between the last 

 two portions of the intestine which are connected together by a membrane con- 

 taining the ramifications of an artery and vein {w. 15. pi. 4.). 



The whole of the alimentary canal was filled with the fragments of Crustaceans*, 

 among which portions of branchiae, claws, and palpi were distinctly recognisable, 

 so as to leave no doubt that the greater part of them had appertained to a Bra- 

 chyurous Decapod of a hirsute character, and not a Swimmer. The crop in 

 particular was tensely filled with these fragments, and the capability of pro- 

 pelUng such rude and angular particles through a narrow canal into the gizzard 

 without I'upturing the thin tunics of the preparatory cavity, is not one of the 

 least extraordinary examples of the powers of li\ang matter. 



The longitudinal rugae into which the fining membrane of the oesophagus is 

 thrown, disappear at its entrance into the crop. The muscular coat of the crop 

 consists of an exterior layer of close-set circular fibres, and an inner layer of 

 more scattered longitudinal ones. The fining membrane is thin but tough, with 

 a smooth surface : when the cavity is empty, it is probably thrown into longi- 

 tudinal folds by the action of the circular fibres. 



* The fossil remains of this class of animals are not unfrequently found in the same stratum with 

 Nautilites, Ammonites, &c. 



