27 1 



somewhat resembles a bent tube, as seen in the lump- 

 sucker, flounder, salmon, carp, sturgeon, and most of the 

 plagiostomes ; and the c&cal, in which it ends in a blind 

 sac, and the pyloric portion is continued from its right side, 

 as observed in the perch, gurnard, weevers, John Dory, 

 whiting, &c. An intermediate or transitional form sometimes 

 exists, as in the sea-scorpion or the turbot, irrespective of 

 which certain deviations occur which it is not my purpose 

 to enlarge upon. The Indian Scicena, erroneously termed 

 whiting -(Joknius), has the pyloric portion of its stomach 

 muscular, but this augmented thickness of the muscular 

 coats may be best perceived in the mullets (Mugit), in 

 which the cardiac portion is continued downwards into a 

 blind sac, while the pyloric portion is thickened like the 

 gizzard of a bird, appearing as a rounded or conical pro- 

 jection externally, and which when cut into is found to 

 consist of thick muscular walls, the small cavity remaining 

 internally being lined with a thick and horny epithelium. 

 This gizzard-like stomach is evidently employed for grind- 

 ing up hard food, and it is curious to observe how, when 

 some freshwater forms select hard substances for their diet, 

 the coats of their stomachs may likewise become thickened. 

 Thus in the gillaroo trout we find the ascending or pyloric 

 portion of the stomach thickened, due to their existing upon 

 shell molluscs in some of our fresh waters, but which thick- 

 ening is lost when they become transferred to other loca- 

 lities, as may be seen in a specimen on the table, which 

 died last month in our Aquarium, and which was reared by 

 Mr. Capel from eggs procured in Ireland from the true 

 gillaroo. 



Through the pyloric orifice, partially-digested food reaches 

 the commencement of the small intestines, and as a rule we 

 observe that the distance from the pylorus to the vent is 



