Sphyrcena barracuda; its Morphology, Habits, and History. 



71 



There seems to be in this fish a structure apart from the pericardial 

 sac which functions as a true diaphragm. Cuvier and ^^alenciennes 

 (1829) speak of a diaphragm in the European form, the spet. Con- 

 tained in the body-cavity were the spermaries, the air-bladder, and the 

 alimentary tract with the liver and spleen. The digestive apparatus 

 was 29.5 inches long, of which the stomach was 12.5 inches long by 

 1.5 inches wide, and the intestine 17 inches long by 0.5 inches wide. 

 The stomach had the shape shov>^n in text-figure 4 a, the intestine 

 coming ofT 2.5 inches below or behind the oesophageal constriction. 

 The sac below the pyloric opening was filled with the bones of fishes. 

 My notes say that this organ was supplied with three large blood- 

 vessels, but their connections were not worked out. 



Text-figure 



Anatomical features of S.bairacudu, all 

 diagrammatic' 



A. Stomach. 



B. Liver. 



C. GaU-bladder. 



D. Air-bladder. 



When the abdomen is opened the first organ visible in the anterior 

 end is the liver. This is shaped very like a flat or English riding 

 saddle turned upside down, the ''skirts" or flaps extending upwards 

 on each side of the stomach. It hes in the extreme forward end of the 

 abdomen just behind the heart. In specimen No. 10 it was just about 

 an inch thick at the forward end, where it was thickest (the point 

 marked x in the diagram, text-figure 4 b). On the dorsal surface, 

 opposite the point marked x, the bile duct, 3.5 inches long, was given 



