438 Miscellaneous. 



The study of the skeleton of our rodent offers a great number of 

 interesting iacts, upon which I shall not at present dwell, but con- 

 fine myself to mentioning the state of extreme im})erfection of its 

 clavicles (which arc snspended in the flesh as osseous styles), and the 

 great number of the dorsal vcrtebrje (of wb.ich there are sixteen, 

 whilst in most cases only thirteen exist). 



The stomach of Lophioniys is very remarkable : it is unilocular, 

 and presents in its interior two crest-like folds, festooned on their 

 free margins, which extend parallel to each other from the orifice of 

 the oesophagus to the commencement of the pyloric portion. These 

 folds enclose a deep furrow, which, by the approximation of their 

 margins, may be converted into a channel, by means of which 

 liquid aliments may flow from the oesophagus into the neighbour- 

 hood of the pylorus without falling into the general cavity. This 

 arrangement is very remarkable, and apparently can only be com- 

 pared with the subossophageal channel of the ruminants. 



Upon the lower border of the stomach we observe, in the abdo- 

 minal cavity, a large appendage, in the form of the finger of a glove, 

 which opens near the pylorus by an orifice surroiuided by a sort of 

 sphincter. The walls of" this diverticulum are tliick, and appear as if 

 villous; and their inner surface is riddled by a multitude of pores, 

 which are the orifices of the same number of secretory tubes : these, 

 under the microscope, appear cylindrical, long, and very narrow ; 

 their diameter is only about -z}jj millim.; they are parallel, very close 

 together, and present neither ramifications nor an initial inflation. 

 The stomach of no mammal presents a similar arrangement. In its 

 form the finger-like appendage somewhat resembles the pyloric caeca 

 of fishes ; but it appears to me to be due rather to the localization 

 of the pepsic glands, which, instead of being, as usual, disseminated 

 through the thickness of the walls of the stomach, are concentrated 

 in a peculiar appendicular organ. 



The small intestine presents nothing remarkable ; but the arrange- 

 ment of the pancreas deserves notice. The excretory canals of this 

 gland, instead of opening directly into the intestine, pour their pro- 

 ducts into the choledochal canal, and it is by the intervention of this 

 latter that the pancreatic juice feaches the duodeimm. 



The caecum has the form of a subcylindrical sac ; but it is far 

 from being so much developed as in most of the Rodentia. 



The male generative apparatus o( Lophioniys resembles that of the 

 Hamster more than that of any other species of the same order. 



The preceding zoological and anatomical details suffice to show 

 that Lophiomys Imhansii differs considerably from all the known 

 types of Rodentia : and it appears to me indispensable to form 

 of it not only a new genus, but a new family ; for the })eculiari- 

 ties of structure which we meet with in it are superior in zoological 

 value to those which have served as bases for the establishment 

 of the other secondary groups of the order Rodentia, whether called 

 tribes or families. 



I can give no precise information as to the native country of 

 Jjophiomrjs, It was bought, in 1865, at Aden, by M. Imhaus, 



