RUMINANTIA. 



541 



hollow-horned Ruminantia invariably possess 

 this structure. In connection with this sub- 

 ject, Prof. Owen has pointed out a most cu- 

 rious anomaly in the aberrant cervine genus 

 Camelopardalis. Out of three individuals 

 anatomised by him, and a single specimen by 

 ourselves, in one instance only has there been 

 found a bile-cyst a circumstance serving to 

 illustrate a feeble alliance with the Ante- 

 lopidae on the one hand, and a near approach 

 to the Cervidre and Camelidae on the other. 

 The gall-bladder, discovered by Prof. Owen, 

 occurred in a female Giraffe ; it was bifid at 

 the fundus, and exhibited several peculiarities 

 which he has thus described.* " It was at- 

 Fig. 364. 



Double gall-bladder of the Giraffe. (From Owen.) 

 tached in the usual manner and situation to 

 the under part of the liver, having a covering 

 of peritoneum over three-fourths of its sur- 

 face. It measured three inches in length, 

 and two inches in diameter. On making a 

 longitudinal incision down one side of this 

 apparently single gall-bladder, it was seen to 

 be divided throughout its length by a middle 

 vertical septum. Further dissection of this 

 septum showed that the gall-bladder in fact 

 was double, and that the two reservoirs of 

 equal size were connected together, side by 

 side, by means of a common investment of 

 serous membrane. The lining membrane of 

 each bladder was smooth j they communi- 

 cated separately with the commencement of 

 a single cystic duct, the terminal orifices 

 admitting freely the blunt end of a common 

 probe, and being protected by a valvular fold." 



* Memoir, 7. c, p. 228. 



The hepatic duct attains an enormous size in 

 the Sheep, and in this animal as also in the 

 Ox and Goat, the common ductus choledicus 

 enters the duodenum about twelve inches 

 from the pylorus. The opening is a little 

 less than eight inches distant from the sto- 

 machal orifice in the Camel, and in the 

 Llama, Deer, and Antelope, is situated quite 

 close to the valve (Cuvier, Meckel). 



The pancreas is somewhat bilobed, and, like 

 the liver and spleen, comparatively insigni- 

 ficant. The excretory canal is spacious in 

 the Sheep, and unites with the common duct 

 of the liver about two inches from the duo- 

 denal communication ; its junction takes place 

 rather closer to the gut in the Camel. These 

 passages are separate in the Ox, and sometimes 

 leave a considerable interspace between their 

 duodenal terminations. 



The spleen usually presents a flattened 

 oval or rounded figure ; in its normal posi- 

 tion it is applied against the left side of the 

 paunch, and has about one-sixth of the 

 weight of the liver. In the Llama its form is 

 semilunar, and it is particularly narrow in the 

 Antelopes, Deer, and Giraffe. On making a 

 section through the spleen of the Ox, the 

 malpighian corpuscles are seen to be remark- 

 ably large and conspicuous. 



Organs of circulation. The heart of the ru- 

 minant as in other mammifera, lies parallel with 

 the sternum near the middle line. Its capacity 

 corresponds with the large bulk of the herbi- 

 vorous quadruped, but the auricles are re- 

 latively small as compared with the ventricles ; 

 this feature is more noticeable in Cervidae, and 

 in the Giraffe, where the organ in its entirety 

 is rather more elongated than in the Camels. 

 One of the most striking peculiarities possessed 

 by certain species of this order, in common 

 with many other animals, such as the Hog, 

 Elephant, and Horse, consists in the pre- 

 sence of one or sometimes two small ossifica- 

 tions situated in the septum ventriculorum at 

 the root of the aorta ; these so-called " bones 

 of the heart " are flattened, more or less 

 curved or cruciform, and generally speaking 

 they are less strongly developed in the female; 

 in the Giraffe this bone is about two-thirds of 

 an inch in length (Owen). The distribution 

 of the great vessels proceeding from the base 

 of the heart resembles for the most part that 

 of the human subject, but the aorta, as in 

 Pachydermata, divides close to its origin into 

 two unequal trunks, the smaller passing 

 forwards and representing the arteria inno- 

 minata y and the larger curving backwards to 

 supply the place of the descending trunk. 

 The ascending vessel gives off the subclavian 

 artery much nearer to the heart in Solipeda 

 than in the Ruminants (Meckel). In the 

 Bactrian Camel the subclavian is not quite so 

 far distant as in the Horse, while in the Dro- 

 medary this division leaves the innominata 

 within two lines from its insertion into the 

 heart (Daubenton). The deviations of the 

 vertebral were indicated when describing the 

 characters of the cervical vertebra in the 

 different genera. The thyroid body is supplied 



