DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 311 



number of slender membranous tubes filled with a fluid 

 apparently analogous to the bile. They are, for the most 



146 



Fi ? s. 146, Digestive system of Melolontha-147, ditto of Staphylinns (from L. Du/our). 



part, inserted into the stomach near its outlet, where the 

 secretion, which is thus discharged, acts upon the already 

 partially dissolved food, and converts it into a pulpy mass or 

 chyle, the nutritive parts of which, as it passes into the small 

 gut, are taken up by the inner membrane of the latter, and 

 passed into the cavity of the abdomen, lying upon and around 

 the parts to be nourished by absorption. The indigestible 

 parts of the food are collected in the caecum, and thence 

 passed out of the body. 



