334 Prof. Mcintosh's N'otes on the Tunny. 



being apparently clue, in many cases, to the condition of the 

 vessels as regards distention by blood. The vessels have a 

 delicate translucent lining, apparently epithelial, and the mus- 

 cular or elastic wall, chiefly composed of circular fibres, is of 

 great thickness, and generally tinged reddish by the hemo- 

 globin. The vascular channels are bound together by granu- 

 lar connective tissue and cells, and it is this which gives way 

 when the structure is torn longitudinally. 



The size of the vascular channels is such that a large 

 amount of blood must pass quickly through these organs. 



The liver forms a large trilobate mass of a greyish-yellow 

 colour. It has been described both by Cuvier and Valen- 

 ciennes*, and by Eschricht and Miillerf, the latter authors like- 

 wise giving very good figures of it. The margins in the pre- 

 sent example show various lobules which range from \ inch 

 to 3 inches in length. 



The spleen forms a great glandular organ of a dull reddish 

 colour attached to the intestine behind the duodenum, and 

 measures 22 inches in length by about 3 in diameter. It is 

 firm and rather friable, somewhat resembling a fatty liver in 

 section, the surface of the latter being dotted with large 

 reddish-brown masses and more minute intermediate blackish 

 specks. Microscopically it presents a uniform matrix of a 

 minutely cellular appearance. The organ appears to have 

 undergone considerable degeneration. 



The male reproductive organs are attached to huge flattened 

 fatty folds fully an inch in thickness, which occupy the poste- 

 rior region of the abdominal cavity. Towards their anterior 

 ends these folds are highly vascular, so that in minute struc- 

 ture the tips for a distance of 6 inches resemble that of a 

 blood-gland, and they are of a deep red colour. The rest of 

 the folds are fatty. Two or three minute ova, apparently 

 parasitic, occurred in the dissection of tliese masses. The re- 

 productive organs are separated from these folds by no distinct 

 line of demarcation, but are closely connected with their outer 

 borders. The organs measured respectively 2 feet and 1 foot 

 10 inches in length, by 3i and 3 inches in breadth. In a 

 transverse section through both parts it is easy to distinguish 

 the more compact tissue of the reproductive organs ; but the 

 inner border of the fatty folds sends fibres and vessels into the 

 reproductive organs, so that they are more or less continuous 

 with each other. In minute structure they present a series of 

 closely arranged transverse tubular folds. No sexual pro- 

 ducts are visible. The urinary bladder is a thick muscular 

 organ of small dimensions. 



* Op. cit. p. 66. 



t Abhandl. Akad. Berl. 1835, ^. 2 et seq. Taf. i., ii., u. iii. 



