16 Emil Goetsch. 
INSECTIVORA. 
The only observations on the structure of the esophagus in the 
Insectivora which I have been able to find are the descriptions of the 
cesophagus of Erinaceus given by Carlier (93) and Oppel (97). 
Carlier’s description may be briefly summed up in the following 
statements: The epithelium is thick and of the ordinary type; the 
muscularis mucosee is greatly developed consisting of large bundles 
of coarse non-striped fibers, longitudinally placed; the submucous 
coat is reduced to a minimum, due to the total absence of all glan- 
dular structures, mucous glands being entirely absent with the excep- 
tion of a few scattered acini, situated near the cardiac end, internal 
to the muscularis mucose, and therefore in the mucous membrane. 
There are, however, according to Carlier, some serous glands in the 
submucosa of the organ, arranged in a ring round the cardiac orifice 
of the stomach, the long ducts of which pierce the muscle and epithe- 
lium to open just above the border of the cwsophageal epithelium. 
The muscular coat consists throughout its whole extent of striped 
fibres. Oppel, on the other hand, found mucous glands in the upper 
portion of the cesophagus only. These glands showed cells of two 
types, as regards their affinity for hematoxylin and eosin respec- 
tively, although Oppel did not decide whether this difference was 
due to the physiological state of the cell or to a fundamental differ- 
ence. 
In Scalops aquaticus the conditions are very similar to those 
described by Oppel in Erinaceus. That is to say the glands are con- 
fined to the pharynx and to a very small portion of the upper extrem- 
ity of the esophagus. 
The epithelium in Scalops is thick and fairly uniform in thick- 
ness throughout the length of the cesophagus, the increase in thick- 
ness towards the lower end of the esophagus being but slight. At 
the upper end it measured 127 micra, at the lower end 139 micra. 
A true stratum corneum is not present, although a considerable 
degree of cornification of the superficial layers is apparent. The 
most superficial cells are nucleated and no stratum granulosum is to 
be seen. The superficial layers, about 24 micra in thickness, stain 
intensely in eosin. No true papille are present, although the deep 
