674 



CETACEA. 



PhocfBna globiceps, the carinated Porpoise, 

 the Beluga, the Platanist, the Narwhal, the 

 Great Bottle-nose or Hyperoodon, and the 

 Piked Whale (Balanoptcra) . There is no doubt 

 that the stomachs of all these animals are very 

 complicated ; and although it may be more 

 than probable that they do not resemble each 

 other in their composition, it is to be presumed, 

 however, that it is to their complication we must 

 attribute the essentially different descriptions 

 which have been put forth on this subject. 

 What authorizes this supposition is the di- 

 versity of opinions which exists relative to 

 the number of the stomachs of the common 

 Dolphin and common Porpoise, some 

 counting only three, others four, others five, 

 and others six, &c. Now it is certain that 

 these differences of number proceed simply 

 from the manner in which this organ is viewed. 

 When it is only judged of by its exterior, and 

 its globulous parts alone are called stomach, 

 only three or four can be reckoned ; and then 

 the more or less tubular passages, situated 

 amongst those more or less spherical cavities, 

 are considered as mere intercommunicating 

 canals. But if the interior of these stomachs 

 be studied, it is seen that several amongst them 

 have a special organization, and are separated 

 from one another by small openings, which do 

 not invariably establish a direct communica- 

 tion between them : hence the tubular parts 

 cannot be considered as simple passages, but 

 must necessarily be admitted as essential 

 parts of the stomach, which, like the others, 

 impress their peculiar action upon the food. 

 It has also been the case that the dilated sac 

 into which the biliary and pancreatic juices 

 are poured, has not been admitted as belong- 

 ing to the stomach ; but besides its not being 

 without example that in Mammalia the bile 

 may be poured immediately into the stomach, 

 the difference in the nature of the membranes 

 ought to suffice for deciding whether the part 

 which receives these secretions belongs or not 

 to the duodenum. Now in the Dolphins it is 

 evidently at the termination of the last stomach 

 that their duct opens. In this state of things 

 it is impossible to decide with precision in 

 what particulars the Zoophagous Cetaceans differ 

 from one another in the structure of the sto- 

 mach. It appears, however, that this organ 

 in the common Dolphin, the common Porpoise, 

 the Globiceps, and the Platanist, is formed upon 

 the same type, and is composed of five parts ; 

 and if they differ one from another, it is only 

 by modifications of secondary importance. If 

 to these facts we add what Meckel states re- 

 specting the Narwhal, in which he recognizes 

 five stomachs, and what Hunter says of the 

 Grampus and Piked Whale, in which he like- 

 wise found five, we have three species more 

 to add to the first. In fact, when we consider 

 that only three or four stomachs have been re- 

 cognized in the Carinated Porpesse and the 

 Beluga, which are true Phoctencz, and that 

 Baussard saw three, and Hunter seven in the 

 Hyperoodon (Great Bottle-nose Whale), we 

 believe ourselves authorized in thinking that 

 these differences depend entirely upon, the 



manner in which this organ is viewed, and we 

 consider it very probable that the number of 

 stomachs in these Cetaceans, as in the others, 

 is five. However, from this small number of 

 facts, and from all the conjectures with which 

 we have been obliged to approach the subject, 

 we shall draw no precise conclusion as to the 

 structure which may be common to the Zoo- 

 phagous Cetaceans. But this undoubted great 

 complication of the stomach in animals which 

 are nourished with the most animalized food, 

 is an anomaly the cause of which it would be 

 very important to investigate ; for from the 

 ascertained facts which we have to reason from, 

 we are not led by any analogy to an explanation 

 of this subject. 



[In our examinations of the stomach of the 

 Porpesse (fig. 263), we have not been able to 



Fig. 263. 



Stomach of the Porpesse. 



distinguish more than four compartments. 

 This complex digestive organ, besides the 

 structure of the internal surface, differs from 

 that of the Ruminant Animals in the compara- 

 tively small size of the first cavity, and the mode 

 of inter-communication of the other compart- 

 ments, which succeed one another, and are 

 not appended to the extremity of the oesopha- 

 gus : instead, therefore, of the oesophagus 

 communicating with all the four cavities, it 

 opens only into the first, and consequently no 



