232 DENTALIAD^E. 



At the base of the oesophagus is a cerebral mass of four 

 minute,, pale pink, subcircular, finely-punctured ganglions, in 

 form somewhat like the letter X, united by a nervous thread 

 or collar, which encircles the oesophagus at the point where 

 it passes at the base of the foot into the stomach, and the 

 fine filaments therefrom are distinctly visible passing to the 

 stomach and throwing off anastomosing lateral threads ante- 

 riorly to the foot, buccal orifice, and the other front parts of 

 the body. 



The salivary glands are very large, covering the base of the 

 foot and the oesophageal ganglions, and envelope the buccal 

 pouches so completely that they seem imbedded in them; 

 they spring from each side the base of the mouth, and are two 

 thick fasciculi, which consist of a multitude of very fine, long, 

 light yellow capillary strands ; their extraordinary volume is 

 necessary to produce a copious supply of fluid to lubricate the 

 enormous quantity of Foraminifera these animals swallow, 

 especially of the scabrous ones, as Bulimina pulchella, and the 

 sharp-pointed Lagena amphora. 



The oesophagus, after emerging from the nervous collar, 

 instantly enters the stomachal cavity, which is composed of a 

 muscular membrane of a broad oval form, the anterior and 

 larger portion thereof being occupied by an extremely strong 

 gizzard, formed of a pair of subelliptical folding jaws with 

 eighteen laminae bent towards the points on each side, and 

 studded with very strong blunt teeth : this denticular frame is 

 supported by fleshy lobes encased in corneous plates, and 

 appears to be an organ nearly similar to the buccal mass of 

 the ordinary Gasteropoda ; it is not however placed, as in 

 them, immediately at the anterior orifice of a pharyngeal 

 oesophagus leading to a stomach and fixed thereto by strong 

 elastic threads, but it is the stomach itself most slightly 

 attached to the membrane which envelopes it. This powerful 

 machine undoubtedly acts as a gizzard, to grind the testaceous 

 food of this animal ; it empties itself by a very short scoop- 

 shaped canal into an intestine of three or four intricate 

 Gordian knot-like folds, which, strange to say, often contain 

 a dozen or more shells that have escaped the action of the 



