THE VASCULAR SYSTEM. 



527 



The ventral and the dorsal pairs of valves are the first to appear : the 

 former as two small solid prominences separated from each other by a 

 narrow groove ; the latter as a single ridge, in the centre of which is a 

 prominence indicating the point where the ridge will subsequently become 

 divided into two. The outer valves appear opposite each other, at a con- 

 siderably later iieriod. 



As the septum gi'ows downwards towards the heart, it finally reaches 

 the position of these valves. One of its edges then passes between the two 

 ventral valves, and the other unites with the prominence on the dorsal 

 valve-ridge. At the same time the growth of all the pai-ts causes the 

 valves to appear to approach the heart, and thus to be placed quite at the 

 top of the ventricular cavities. The free edge of the septum of the truncus 

 now fuses with the ventricular septum, and thus the division of the truncus 

 into two separate channels, each provided with three valves, and each com- 

 municating with a separate side of the heart, is complete ; the position of 

 the valves not being very different from that in the adult heart. 



That division of the truncus which opens into the fifth pair of arches is 

 the one which communicates with the right ventricle, while that which 

 opens into the third and fourth pairs communicates with the left ventricle. 

 The fornver becomes the pulmouar}' artery, the latter the commencement of 

 the systemic aorta. 



The external constriction actually dividing the truncus into two vessels 

 does not begin to appear till the septum has extended some way back 

 towards the heart. 



The semilunar valves become pocketed at a period considerably later 

 than their first formation (from the 147th to the 165th hour) in the order 

 of their appearance. 



Fig. 361. Two views of the heart or a Chick upon the fifth day of 



INCUBATION. 



A. from the ventral, B. from the dorsal side. 

 l.a. left auricular appendage ; r.a. right auricular appendage ; r.v. right ventricle ; 

 l.v. left ventricle ; b. truncus arteriosus. 



At the end of the sixth day, and even on the fifth day (figs. 361 and 

 362), the appearance of the heart itself, without reference to the vessels 

 which come from it, is not very dissimilar from that of the adult. The 



distance from the mouth of the ventricle, it would seem possible that the portion of 

 the truncus between them and the ventricle ought to be regarded as the embryonic 

 conus arteriosus, and that the distal row of valves of the conus (and not the proximal 

 as suggested above, p. 525) has been preserved in the higher types. 



