88 ZOOLOGY 



SECT. 



the liver {h. cl.) generally gives ofif a blind ofifVihoot ending in 

 a capacious dilatation, the gall-bladder {g. h.) in which the bile is 

 stored. We thus have one or more hepatic ducts conveying the bile 

 from the liver and meeting with a cystic duct from the gall- 

 bladder, while from the junction a comtnon bile-duct leads into the 

 intestine. 



Another important and characteristic organ in the abdomen of 

 Craniata is the spleen {spl.), a gland-like organ of variable size 

 and shape, attached to the stomach by a fold of peritoneum, but 

 having no duct. It is formed of a pulpy substance containing 

 numerous red blood-corpuscles, many of them in process of dis- 

 integration : dispersed through the pulp are masses of leucocytes 

 which multiply and pass into the veins. 



Two other ductless glands are formed in connection with the 

 enteric canal. The thyroid (fJtd.) is developed as an outpushing 

 of the floor of the pharynx which becomes shut off, and forms, in 

 the adult, a gland-like organ of considerable size. Its final posi- 

 tion varies considerably in the different classes. It has been com- 

 pared with the endostyle of Tunicata and of Amphioxus, which, as 

 will be remembered, is an open groove on the ventral side of the 

 pharynx. This view is supported by the condition of the parts in 

 the larval Lamprey (see Cijclodomcita). 



The thymus is developed from the epithelium of the dorsal ends 

 of the gill-clefts : in the adult it may take the form of a number 

 of separate gland-like bodies lying above the gills, or may be 

 situated in the neck or even in the thorax. The thymus and 

 thyroid, by virtue of internal secretions which they produce, 

 and which mingle with the blood, control and modify the 

 physiological condition of vari<jus organs and tissues with which 

 they have no immediate anatomical connection. 



The whole intra-abdominal portion of the enteric canal as well 

 as the liver, pancreas, spleen, and indeed, all the abdominal viscera, 

 are supported by folds of peritoneum, called by the general name 

 of mesentery (Fig. 760, C, mes.) and having the usual relation to the 

 parietal and visceral layers of the peritoneum. 



Two kinds of respiratory organs are found in Craniata: 



water-breathing organs or ,y///s, and air-breathing organs or 

 lungs. 



Gills arise as a series of paired pouches of the pharynx which 

 extend outwards, or towards the surface of the body, and finally 

 open on the exterioi- by the gill-slits already noticed. Each 

 gill-pouch thus commvuiicates with the pharynx by an internal 

 (Fig. 760, B, /'. br. a), with the outside water by nn external bran- 

 chial aperture (e. br. a), and is separated from its predecessor and 

 from its successor in the series by stout fibrous partitions, the 

 interhranchial septa (Fig. 771, i. br. s). The mucous membrane 



