SIMIAD.E. 449 



this latter division that the process of digestion appears to be carried 

 on : it is not only more vascular than the other divisions, but is more 

 abundantly supplied with nerves, from the eighth pair : the cardiac and 

 sacculated portions are, in all probability, preparatory receptacles, or 

 reservoirs. 



The left, or cardiac compartment, into which the oesophagus enters, is 

 separated* from the middle sacculated portion, by a septum, or decided 

 constriction, produced by circular fibres, which, when the stomach is not 

 distended, may be so contracted as completely to intervene between these 

 two divisions, and thus render the cardiac pouch a distinct cavity ; for, even 

 when the stomach is distended, the orifice of communication is found not 

 to exceed two inches in diameter. From the entrance of the oesophagus, 

 a muscular band is continued round the cardiac compartment, so as, in 

 some instances, to pucker, or corrugate it into slight sacculi, as in the 

 Kahau ; in others, to produce a somewhat bifid termination of its apex, 

 as in the Entellus, the stomach of which animal, as Professor Owen has 

 observed, reminds us, in this respect, of that of the Kangaroo, which is, 

 also, complicated. The second, or lower, division of the stomach consists 

 of a double series of sacculi (varying in depth and distinctness in different 

 species), puckered upon a band of muscular fibres, continued from the 

 oesophagus to the division-band, and parted from each other by internal 

 septa, of a semilunar form, and of different degrees of depth : in the 

 Entellus, the septa average half an inch, or more. 



The pyloric portion of the stomach is a long canal, commencing from 

 the cardiac pouch, to the right of the oesophagus, and becoming gradually 

 narrower. It is corrugated into sacculi by three longitudinal muscular 

 bands, of which one is continued from the cardiac band. The sacculi 

 thus formed are, however, much smaller and shallower than those of the 

 middle compartments, and become less and less distinct, till, at the dis- 

 tance of about five inches from the pylorus, they cease entirely. Thus 

 formed, the pyloric portion of the stomach sweeps round the cardiac 

 pouch, its smooth termination making an abrupt and complete turn upon 

 itself, as seen in the sketch (fig. 278.) 



The three divisions of the stomach in the Semnopitheci, though dis- 

 tinct from each other, are not characterized by any essential differences 

 of structure ; and, in this respect, are not to be compared to those in the 

 stomachs of the Ruminantia or Cetacea. In the Semnopitheci the 

 stomach is simply complicated,-)- and of great size ; and, from the latter 



* The tendency of the cardiac portion, in stomachs of the simplest structure, to form, by means 

 of a central contraction, a compartment more or less distinct from the pyloric, has already been 

 noticed ; this tendency exists in Man, and in the Carnivora generally. 



+ The Sloths exhibit a parallel conformation of stomach ; but, as Professor Owen observes, the 

 Sloths, in the complication of this viscus, approach more nearly to the ruminants ; nevertheless, " the 

 chambers into which the stomach of the Sloth is divided, are not characterized by the difference of 



VOL I. 3M 



