No. 2.] ENTERON OF AMERICAN GANOIDS. 431 



fishes seem to have the most powerful gastric digestion." To 

 the writer these opinions appear unsatisfactory from the fact 

 that in the American Ganoids, at least, the ciliated character 

 of the gastric epithelium would tend to prevent the formation 

 of a distinct mucous coat over the surface of the stomach. But 

 apart from this, it is believed that the vital properties of the 

 cells are sufficiently potent to withstand any deleterious effects 

 which the gastric secretions might possibly have upon them. 

 Edinger thinks that the functions of the mucus are to thin the 

 chyme and to form a protective covering over the hard, indi- 

 gestible bodies, as sand, shells, etc., which find their way into 

 the stomach. He says that such foreign bodies, surrounded 

 by a tough mass of mucus, are frequently found in the intes- 

 tine. This explanation seems more reasonable than the pre- 

 ceding. 



Ebstein found open as well as closed cells, and is of the 

 opinion that during digestion the membrane of the closed cells 

 is ruptured. In all the specimens examined by me both open 

 and closed cells were found. The epithelial cells of Amia's 

 stomach are very slender (Fig. 28), and the attached ends are 

 continued into long thread-like processes which intertwine with 

 the subadjacent mucosa. Ciliated cells are found uninterrupt- 

 edly from the cephalic end of the oesophagus to within two or 

 three centimeters of the pylorus. Scattered among these were 

 many open beaker-cells, — the two kinds of cells being in about 

 equal numbers. From the open end of many of the beaker- 

 cells a mucous mass of varying size was seen projecting a vari- 

 able distance beyond the free end of the cells (Fig. 27). At 

 the cardiac end of the stomach the gastric glands appear as 

 short tubes at the base of the follicles above mentioned. They, 

 however, rapidly increase in length, and over the middle por- 

 tion of the stomach make up the greater part of the tubule 

 (Fig. 25). As the pyloric region is approached, the glandular 

 part decreases in length, and about two centimeters from the 

 pylorus disappear. From this point on, the glands are lined 

 with cells like those forming the surface epithelium, only 

 shorter. In the cardiac region the mouths of the glands are 

 short, and are lined by ciliated cells (Fig. 24). The cells of 



