PYLORIC APPENDAGES. 297 



the oesophagus) measures one foot two inches, and is of 

 uniform circumference, nowhere more than four inches 

 and one-eighth in circumference, and reminds one of a 

 mop handle. The duodenum is six inches long ; then 

 come the pyloric appendages, which occupy the space of 

 seven inches, and the lower gut, measm'ing one foot 

 seven inches ; so that the digestive organs of this forty- 

 eight pound salmon, when extended their full length, 

 measm-e three feet nine inches. There are no less than 

 fifty pyloric appendages. Upon these appendages I 

 found firmly adherent a dense mass of white fat ; this 

 weighed no less than five ounces, and goes strongly to 

 strengthen my idea that one use of the pyloric appen- 

 dages is to act as a storehouse for the fat which is 

 gradually absorbed while the fish is in fresh water (see 

 pp. 304-306). I have also discovered another very in- 

 teresting fact about these appendages. Upon coming 

 down to breakfast the next morning, I fancied I smelt 

 a strong scent of violets in the room; I found it proceeded 

 from the preparation of the salmon's viscera which were 

 drying near the fire. The scent came fi-om the pylorics 

 only ; it reminds me of the scent of a salmon fresh caught, 

 and is not unlike the smell of new-mown hay with a 

 dash of violet. Here, then, is a new fact which I am 

 totally unable to explain. 



The structure of the lower end of the gut is remark- 

 able, inasmuch as the plaster within brings out very 

 distinctly the fact that the internal mucous membrane 

 is arranged after the manner of an Archimedes screw, 

 admirably adapted to increase the extent of internal 

 surface for the absorption of nutriment from the food 

 during its passage through a tube containing within it 

 a continuous spiral fold, coiled as to afford the greatest 

 possible extent of surface in the smallest space. 



