33 



wider. The inner membrane is produced into a fcw irregular folds, 

 and for half an inch within the anus is of dark leaden colour, the 

 pigmentvm being apparently continued inwards for that extent. 



" From the complexity of the stomach, the great extent of the 

 alimentary canal, its vast muscular powcr, and glandular appendages, 

 the digestive functions mustbeextremely vigorous inthis animal. The 

 vigour of the digestive fimctions obviously relates, in the herbivorous 

 section of Cetacea, to the lo\v organized indigestible character of their 

 nutriment ; but the complicated stomach and long intestinal canal of 

 the carnivorous Cetacea mušt have other relations than to the kind 

 of food. These modifications of the digestive system, for example, 

 cannot be so explained in the Grampus, ■vvhich preys on the highly 

 organized mammalia of its own class. It is not to the nature of 

 the food, but to the ąuantity of nutriment that is reąuired to be 

 obtained from it, that I conceive the peculiarities of the digestive 

 system in the carnivorous Cetacea to relate. In no other Carnivora 

 is the šame ąuantity of blood, the šame mass of fat to be ehminated 

 from the raw material of the food : the digestive system is, there- 

 fore, perfected in these -vv'arm-blooded carnivorous Mammalia to 

 meet the contingencies of their aąuatic life. 



" The omentum is continued from the great curvature both of the 

 cardiac and pyloric divisions of the stomach ; though short, it is 

 much more distinctly developed than in the carnivorous Cetacea ; it 

 contains no adipose matter. 



" The mesentery likę the omentum was thin, with little fat, and a 

 few absorbent glands of the size of French beans \vere scattered in it. 

 The absorbents going to these glands were very small." 



Having described various other particulars connected with the chy- 

 lopoieiic viscera, and the individual diflFerences which they presented 

 in the three specimens dissected, Mr. Owen proceeded to observe as 

 follows : — 



" The vie\vs taken by Cuvier of the natūrai affinities of the Du- 

 gong and other herbivorous Cetacea, as expressed in bis latest clas- 

 sification, in which they form part of the šame order as the carnivo- 

 rous Cetacea, are undoubtedly questionable, and have been dissented 

 from by De Blainville and other eminenl authorities in zoology. If, 

 indeed, the object of every good classification be, \vhat Cu\'ier statės 

 it to be, to enable the naturalist to express in general propositions 

 structures and attributes common to each given group, the conjunc- 

 tion of the Dugong with the Doljjhin fails in this respect in regard 

 to almost all the iraportant points of internal organization. 



" It is this question which may give interest to the present ana- 

 tomical details, some of which are not new, and ■vvhich I should not 

 have intruded upon the notice of the Society had they previously been 

 considered with reference to the important zoological ąuestion still 

 at issue. 



" In proceeding with our investigation of the abdominal viscera, 

 we find, Vfith respect to the biliary organs, that the Dugong deviates 

 in a marked degree firom the ordinary Cetacea in the presence of a 



