THE GASTRIC MUCOSA 193 



The glands of the cardiac region consist of relatively simple 

 tubes, with short ducts and somewhat wide lumina. In most 

 animals they are fairly numerous, in others only a few such 

 glands are to be found near the oesophagus. They are lined 

 by a single layer of columnar or cubical epithelium, which 

 appears granular in the fresh condition. In sections, however, 

 granules are absent and a fine reticulum is seen in its place. 

 The reticulum is irregularly distributed throughout the cell, 

 and is stained blue by alcoholic eosin and methylene blue, 

 pale magenta by polychrome methylene blue, and blue with 

 Mallory (PI. 8, fig. 1). In some cases a reticulum which stains 

 reddish with Mallory is present in addition to the above finer 

 reticulum which stains blue. Haematoxylin hardly stains 

 the ' blue ' reticulum at all, nor does it tint the spaces between 

 the reticulum. In the case of the other stains just mentioned 

 the spaces are coloured in the same way as the reticulum, but 

 more faintly. 



The nucleus is irregularly rounded or ovoid and is invariably 

 situated towards the base of the cell. In a fasting animal 

 the cell is more colunmar and the nucleus less flattened than 

 in an animal which has been fed. On the whole, however, 

 there is little change to be noted in these cells. 



No com])ound tubular glands such as have been described 

 by Ellenberger (10), Edelmann (8), Schaffer (27), and others 

 in various animals are present in the cat. nor are any structures 

 resembling crypts of Lieberkiihn met with ; this also applies 

 to other regions of the cat's stomach. 



The simple tubular glands of the cardiac region were first 

 described by Schafer and Williams (26) in the kangaroo, and 

 with their description those of the cardiac region agree. It 

 will be shown later that the cardiac cells do not constitute 

 a special type, but form a variety of mucoid cells, a term which 

 is explained elsewhere. 



The Pyloric Eegion. 



I'he pyloric region is considerably larger than the cardiac 

 in area, although smaller than is generally supposed. It extends 



