680 MAMMALIA. 



(766.) In the CETACEA the stomach consists of several bags 

 that communicate with each other. These bags vary from five 

 to seven in number ; but in the present state of our knowledge 

 concerning the physiology of digestion it is difficult to divine what 

 is the purpose of such an arrangement, more especially as rumina- 

 tion is here out of the question. The first stomach of the Whale 

 is, however, no longer merely a reservoir,* as the food under- 

 goes a considerable change in it. The flesh of its prey is entirely 

 separated from the bones, which proves that the secretion of this 

 cavity has a solvent power. This was found to be the case in 

 the Bottle-nose Porpoise and in the large Bottle-nose Whale ; in 

 both of which several handfuls of bones were contained in the first 

 cavity, without the smallest remains of the fish to which they had 

 belonged. In others the earth had been dissolved, so that only 

 the soft parts remained ; and, indeed, it is only partially digested 

 materials that can be conveyed into the second and third cavities, 

 the orifices being too small to permit bones to pass. 



(767.) The rest of the alimentary canal in most quadrupeds, 

 like that of Man, is divisible into the small and the large in- 

 testines ; the division between the two being marked by one or even 

 two appendages, called respectively the ctecum and the appendix 

 vermiformis. 



The small intestines require no particular description, as in all 

 minor circumstances, such as their proportionate length and diame- 

 ter, or in the number and arrangement of the valvula conniventes, 

 they do not differ from the human. The large intestines, how- 

 ever, offer very great variations of structure, and will therefore merit 

 our more attentive consideration ; we shall accordingly lay before 

 the reader the following resume of the principal facts connected 

 with this subject, as given by the indefatigable Cuvier.'J' 



(768.) In Man, the Orangs (Simia), and the Wombat (Phas- 

 colomys), both caecum and vermiform appendage are met with. 



(769.) In the other QUADRUMANA, the DIGITIGRADE CAR- 

 NIVORA, the MARSUPIALIA, the RODENTIA, the PACHYDER- 

 MATA, the RUMINANTIA, the SOLIPEDS, and the AMPHIBIOUS 

 MAMMALS, there is a csecum without any vermiform appendage. 



(770.) Neither ceecum nor appendix vermiformis are found in 

 the EDENTATA, the PLANTIGRADE CARNIVORA, nor in the CE- 

 TACEA. 



* Sir E. Home, Lectures on Comp. Anat. vol. i. p. 225. 

 t Lejons d' Anatomic Comparee, torn. iii. p. 465. 



