ON HOMOLOGIES OF THE LOBES OF THE LIVER IN MAMMALIA. 73 



lodgment of that portion of the stomach : immediately overhung 

 itself by the right subdivision of the suspensory lobe, it again over- 

 lies the ' right kidney lobule/ which is very commonly either 

 deeply fissured or greatly excavated for the reception of the organ 

 after which it is named. The ' superior right lobule' and the 

 'right kidney lobule' are often found to be fused into one mass 

 in animals such as the hedgehog {Erinaceus eurqpaeus) and the long- 

 eared bat (Plecatus auritus), in which they are usually distinct. 

 Lastly, we have the f lobulus Spigelii/ which (with two exceptions 

 in the marsupial series, viz. Pkalangista vulpina and the Macropus 

 giganteus), we have found to be more directly in connexion with, 

 and sessile upon, the 'right kidney lobule' than upon any other 

 portion of the liver. The bile-duct and the afferent blood-vessels 

 of the liver pass in front of the origin of this lobule. It may 

 effloresce into two processes distally and to the left, one of which 

 may pass before and the other behind the cardiac end of the 

 stomach, as in Mus decumanus ; or it may give off a process near 

 its origin and towards the right, which may interpose itself be- 

 tween the ' right kidney lobule' and the ' superior right lobule,' 

 as in the shrew (Sorex vulgaris). In the nomenclature suggested 

 by M. Duvernoy (' Ann. des Sciences Naturelles,' ser. ii. torn, iv), 

 the left division of the suspensory lobe is named 'lobe principal 

 gauche,' but its diminished proportions, as compared with those of 

 the ' left lobe ' in some of the Insectivora and lower Quadrumana, 

 incline us to consider it as wholly lost in such livers as those of 

 man and the ruminants, and to assign it, when it does exist, to 

 the c suspensory lobe.' Without, however, positively pronouncing 

 upon its homology, convenience of description induces us to name it 

 ' left suspensory lobule.' 



It is proposed, then, to speak of the liver as divisible into three 

 principal lobes, two of which frequently admit of further subdivision 

 — at the most, however, into not more than three lobules each : — 



The ' left lobe.' 



mi , , , , , . , ca left suspensory lobule, 



1 he c suspensory lobe, which may , , J . . . 



,,..,-,., < a central suspensory lobule, 



be divided into . . . r •; . . 



\ a right suspensory lobule. 



The 'right lobe,' whieh may be f * "?*? "*** **?* 

 divided into n right k,dney obule, 



v a lobulus Spigelii. 



