CHAP, vi.] THE CAT'S ALIMENTARY SYSTEM. 191 



inner^ surface of the great omental sac is continuous with its 

 margins ; and thus, through it alone, is a communication established 

 between the cavity of that sac and the general abdominal peritoneal 

 cavity. 



The ligaments formed by folds of peritoneum, except those of the 

 uterus^ (which will be noticed with the generative organs), are also 

 three in number, all proceeding to the liver. 



The first of these, the falciform ligament of the liver, is a double 

 layer of peritoneum proceeding backwards from the hinder surface 

 of the diaphragm and the abdominal wall down to the navel, to the 

 anterior surface of the liver, where its line of attachment, as we have 

 seen, divides that viscus into its right and left halves. From that 

 line of attachment the two layers of the ligament separate and pro- 

 ceed right and left to invest the surface of the liver. 



In the posterior, ventral free margin of the ligament (between the 

 ventral abdominal wall and the liver) is a fibrous cord called the 

 round ligament, and which is the relic of a foetal structure. It 

 extends from the navel to the longitudinal fissure on the hinder 

 surface of the liver, as before described. The third ligament con- 

 nects the dorsal border of the liver with the diaphragm. 



Thus, the general INVESTING ARRANGEMENT of the peritoneum 

 lines the interior abdominal wall, and invests the viscera, as 

 follows : It invests the liver, except where reflected from it ; 

 the hinder surface of the gall-bladder; the stomach (except the 

 narrow line of attachment at each curvature) ; the spleen, except at 

 its hilus ; the ventral surface only of the pancreas and kidneys, and 

 the anterior surface of the bladder. Almost all the small intestine, 

 and more or less of the large intestine and rectum, are completely 

 invested by peritoneum. Thus, these viscera are described as having 

 a fourth or serous coat in addition to the muscular, areolar, and 

 mucous coats already described. 



