32 



bodies or follicles (6. 6. pi. 5. & 6.), analogous to those which are appended to 

 the corresponding parts of the vascular system in the Dibranchiata. These fol- 

 licles are not, however, ramified as in the Cuttle-fish, nor of a spongy aspect as 

 in the Calamary, nor of a very elongated form as in the Poulp ; but they are 

 short and pyriform, and closely set together. To each of the branchial arteries 

 are appended three clusters of these glands, of which one is larger than the 

 united volume of both the others ; and the larger cluster is situated on one side 

 of the vessel, and the two smaller on the opposite side. Each of these clusters 

 is contained in a membranous receptacle proper to itself, partitioned off, as it 

 were, from the pericardium, but communicating with it. The septa, or walls 

 of these receptacles (m. u. pi. 5.), exhibit in some parts a fibrous texture, appa- 

 rently muscular, as if for the purpose of compressing the follicles, or of dis- 

 charging the contents of the membranous receptacles into the general cavity of 

 the pericardium. The two canals which form the communication between the 

 pericardium and the branchial cavity, commence at the receptacles of the lesser 

 clusters attached to the superior branchial arteries {u. u. pi. 5.), and terminate 

 at the papillae before mentioned, which are situated at the roots of the branchiae. 

 The pericardium and these receptacles of the glands, when first laid open, were 

 found filled with a coagulated substance so closely compacted as to require a 

 careful removal bit by bit before the contained folUcles and vessels could be 

 brought into view. The follicles communicate together by their contracted 

 extremities, and terminate by rounded orifices in the dilated part of the vessel ; 

 the terminal orifices (7. 7. pi. 6.), in consequence of the previous communications, 

 being much fewer than the follicles themselves. 



With respect to the functions of these singular bodies, it has been conjectured 

 either that they serve as " diverticula, in which the venous blood, being subdi- 

 vided, can experience through the parietes of the spongy follicles the influence 

 of the ambient fluid" (supposing the water to be admitted into the venous cavity 

 by the two excretory canals) ; or that they serve as " excretory canals, by which 

 the spongy body pours into the veins some substance which can only be ex- 

 tracted out of the ambient element :" or lastly, that they serve as " emunctories, 

 by means of which the blood is freed of some principle that escapes by the pores 

 or external folds of the spongy bodies*." 



* " II est done beaucoup plus probable que ce sont ou des diverticules dans lesquels le sang veineux 



