ON THE RENO-PERIOARDIAL CANALS IN PATELLA. 323 



On the Reno-pericardial Canals in Patella. 



By 



Edwin S. Ooodricli, B.A., 



Aldrichiau Demonstrator of Comparative Anatomy, Oxford. 



With Plate 24. 



Strange indeed, and happily unique in the annals of 

 comparative anatomy, has been the history of our knowledge 

 of the reno-pericardial canals of Patella. Although discovered 

 more than thirty years ago, and investigated by many 

 observers since, not only is their structure insufficiently known, 

 but their very existence has been called in question, and even 

 positively denied ! 



Wishing to find out definitely whether these ducts really 

 existed or not, I undertook this work, which was carried out 

 in Oxford, on material obtained from Plymouth and Naples, 

 In this short paper I hope to establish clearly, and beyond the 

 possibility of doubt, the fact that there are reno-pericardial 

 canals leading from the pericardium to the I'ight kidney and 

 to the left kidney in Patella. 



A communication between the pericardial and the renal coe- 

 lom of Pat ell a vulgata was originally described by Professor 

 Lankester in 1867. '' By most careful dissection," he tells us, 

 "Dr. Rolleston and myself detected what appears to be a 

 minute opening from the pericardium into the supra-anal 

 reticulated sac lying in the curve of the rectum [left kidney]. 

 The orifice I found first by opening the pericardium, when it 

 was seen between the bifurcation of the auricle at the right 

 side of the cavity, and was then traced from both the peri- 

 cardium and supraanal sac in other specimens." Dr. von 



