Miscellaneous. 453 



in that part of France must have baen nearly the same as those 

 which exist now-a-days in certain tropical regions. — Comptes Rendus, 

 March 14, 1870, p. 557. 



Oa the Pancreas in Oiseom Fishes, and on the Nature of the Vessels 

 discovered by Weber. By S. Legouis. 



The author indicates, in a few words, the history of our knowledge 

 of supposed pancreatic structures in the osseous fishes, and shows 

 that five years ago the pancreas had been recognized only in two 

 species (Silaras (jlanls and Esox laciiis), and supposed pancreatic 

 granulations in about a dozen more. Weber noticed two systems of 

 canals of very different appearance passing from the liver to the in- 

 testine in the carp, and imagined that the liver might furnish bile 

 to one set and pancreatic juice to the other. This interpretation 

 was rejected by C. Bernard, who, however, met with the double set 

 of canals in other species. 



The author commenced his researches in 1865; and he has ex- 

 amined 43 species, representing the principal families. He finds 

 that Weber's canals exist in uU the osseous fishes ; they are invisible, 

 like the middle lymphatics, in most species, but sometimes pearly 

 (carp, turbot). They constantly open into the duodenum, near 

 the gall-duct, and often by an ampulla. In some species with a 

 convoluted intestine they acquire a verj' elegant arborescent form 

 (barbel, grey mullet). Scarcely an intestinal sinus but receives 

 some branchlet of this system ; it passes among the pyloric appen- 

 dages (dory, mackerel), associates its principal trunks with the 

 ductus choledochus, the splenic and mesenteric veins, and the portal 

 vein, which it follows into the mass of the liver. 



All the osseous fishes possess a pancreas, however its elements 

 may be dispersed, and the Plagiostomi have one similar in all re- 

 spects to that of other Vertebrata. Among osseous fishes the author 

 distinguishes the following three forms : — 



1. Disseminated pancreas. — Glandular globules dispersed through 

 the lamiuiB of the peritoneum (barbel, lumpfish, sardine, sand- 

 smelt, loach, (Src). 



2. Diffused pancreas. — In this the pancreas is lamellar, and re- 

 sembles that of the rabbit, but forms a glandular web of very much 

 greater tenuity. It is dift'used throughout the interstices between 

 the viscera, sometimes to such a degree {Caranx) that tlicse are im- 

 mersed in a panci'eatic mass. The author refers to the following 

 species among others as exhibiting this form of pancreas in various 

 modifications : — conger, gurnard, Sparus, and sticldeback. 



3. Massive pancreas, resembling the organ in the higher Vertebrata 

 (^Silurus, pike, eel). 



The three forms are associated, at least two and two. Weber'a 

 canals are the excretory ducts of the first two forms ; and every one 

 of their branches terminates in a gland. In many species the 

 pancreatic and hepatic glands are still in progress when the fish is 

 adult ; this explains the apparent penetration of the pancreas into 

 the liver. — Comptes liendus, May 16, 1870, p. 1098, 



Ann. & Mar/. N. Hist. Ser. 4. Vol. v. 31 



