.(.-,(; SCHULTE, SEI WHALE. 



with sinistral convexity, at about the level of the emergence of the postcava turns mesad, and 

 again taking a general longitudinal direction curves gradually into the line of attachment of the 

 left leaf of the mesentery. From the coronary ligament to the mesal turn the reflection is from 

 the diaphragm to the first stomach, passing at this point immediately rostrad of the spleen. 

 The remaining portion marks the reflection, first from diaphragm to colon, and then from left 

 adrenal to ascending duodenum. 



In the non-peritoneal area thus bounded are exposed on the posterior parietes, the pillars 

 of the diaphragm, which are in contact with the Spigelian lobe of the liver and the oesophagus; 

 to the left an area of diaphragm adherent to the right portion of the first stomach, and higher 

 up the linear space for the left coronary ligament. The aorta immediately on its emergence 

 from the arch of the diaphragm gives origin in quick succession to the coeliac axis and superior 

 mesenteric arteries, these branches being lodged in grooves on the dorsum of the pancreas. To 

 the left of the aorta, the left adrenal is partially exposed and is in apposition with the ascending- 

 duodenum. The postcava as far as its bifurcation between the upper poles of the kidneys is 

 retroperitoneal and has ventral to it the superior mesenteric vessels, the portal vein and par- 

 tially the pancreas. While to the right of the cava again a strip of adrenal is exposed which 

 is apposed to pancreas. Finally to the right of the caval line, from the diaphragm to the begin- 

 ning of its subhepatic portion, is a large triangular exposure of the diaphragm. It deserves 

 emphasis that on the right the peritoneum of the greater sac approaches the cava and portal 

 vein at the transverse fissure of the liver, but is here reflected from these vessels and the rudi- 

 mentary caudate lobe between them to the upper extremities of the right adrenal and of the 

 vertical pancreas. 



As the foramen of Winslow is obliterated and there is complete separation of the two peri- 

 toneal cavities, it is convenient to treat of conditions in the ventral mesogastrium first with 

 reference to the greater sac alone. We have here to consider the falciform ligament and the 

 reflection of peritoneum from the liver upon the upper abdominal visceral complex. The falci- 

 form ligament departs from the typical condition only in the duplicity of the umbilical vein 

 in its caudal margin. It is attached to the ventral parietes in the midline from the caval orifice 

 in the diaphragm to the umbilicus, and to the liver from the caval emergence to the deep notch 

 in the caudal border which lodges the umbilical veins. It is broad and strong and in this fretus 

 directed distinctly to the left in its passage from abdominal wall to liver. The hepato-visceral 

 reflection of the greater sac comprises from left to right the line of the outer layer of the gastro- 

 hepatic omentum and the hepato-duodenal fold. In the region of the obliterated epiploic foramen 

 there is a recess of the greater sac, of triangular form, with the postcava and portal vein at its 

 apex. It is shown in the figure of the dorsal surface of the liver (Plate LII, Fig. 4) as a reentrant 

 angle with its apex abutting on the postcava to the left of the diaphragmatic area. This recess 

 must not be confused with the larger retro-duodenal fossa formed by the hepato-renal and 

 pancreatico-adrenal folds, which also has its apex upon the postcava (Plate LII, Fig. 3). The 

 two are separated by duodenum and pancreas, and the one now considered is preduodenal in 

 position and of much less extent. In this reflection we have to the left and ventrally, the hepato- 

 duodenal fold, which in the typical conformation of the region forms the free edge of the gastro- 

 hepatic omentum and contains the portal vein, hepatic artery and bile duct, thus forming the 

 ventral boundary of the foramen of Winslow, the remaining boundaries being the caudate lobe 

 above, the cava behind, the duodenum below. By the adherence of the two veins the fora- 



