The Vascular System 205 



thin-walled vessel seen extending across the short 

 space between the anterior face of the right 

 lobe of the liver and the sinus venosus. As was 

 also noted above, the hepatic veins, vh, — at any 

 rate that from the left lobe of the liver, — enter the 

 postcava so close to the heart that they may be 

 considered to have one or more distinct openings 

 into the sinus venosus. Followed caudad, the 

 postcava may be traced through the large right lobe 

 of the liver, from which it receives several branches. 

 Emerging from the posterior border of the liver, 

 it is seen to extend caudad, in the median line, as a 

 rather inconspicuous vessel that receives blood 

 from the reproductive organs and the kidneys that 

 lie close on either side of it. 



The hepatic portal vein, h, has the usual distri- 

 bution for that vessel. Entering the liver in the 

 neighborhood of the bile duct, it receives first {i.e., 

 nearest the liver) a small branch from the pan- 

 creas, pv; near the pancreatic are one or two 

 branches from the stomach, g, and a branch from 

 the spleen, sp. A short distance caudad to these 

 vessels are two or three mesenteric veins, m, 

 leading from the mesentery and small intestine. 

 Caudad to the mesenteries, the portal system may 

 be seen as a vein of diminished caliber, i, leading 

 from the posterior part of the small intestine and 

 from the large intestine. 



The connection mentioned by Bronn between 

 the rectal branch of the portal vein and the caudal 



