420 



ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES. 



The intestinal canal is shorter in Fishes generally than in the 

 hi "her Vertebrates: in the Dermoptcrijl'lagiostoincs, Holoccphali, 

 Sturionkhe, Paddle-fish, fig, 276, / to i, the Lepidosiren, 1 the 

 Flying-fish, the Loach, the Garpike, the Wolf-fish, the Salmon, 



281 



282 



Abdominal viscera, Herring, cxvi. 



the Herring, fig. 281, and the apodal fishes, it is shorter than the 

 body itself: in some of the above-cited examples the intestine 

 extends in a straight line from the pylorus to the anus, fig. 281, 

 c, e, f; in most fishes it presents two or three folds ; the Sun-fish 

 ( Orthagoriscus) shows about six longitudinal ones : the intestine 

 is sinuous in the Sword-fish, fig. 282, e, f; concentrically and 

 subspirally wound in the Mullet, in which the convolutions are 

 numerous and form a triangular mass ; and it is in this fucivorous 

 fish, in the Chretodonts, and the Carp-tribe, that the intestinal 

 canal attains its greatest length in the present class. 



With a few exceptions, of which the 

 Dermopteri and the Lepidosiren are 

 examples, the intestines are divided 

 into ' small,' and ' large.' The begin- 

 ning of the small intestine, to which is 

 arbitrarily given the name of e duode- 

 num,' fig. 278, i, fig. 281, c, e, is usually 

 wider than the rest of that division 

 of the canal : it receives the ducts of 

 the liver and pancreas ; and, in most 

 Osseous Fishes, that of the caeca, fig. 

 281, d, which are usually termed, from 

 their communication with, or develope- 

 ment from, the commencement of the 

 small intestine, ( appendices pylorica?.' 

 The termination of the small intestine 

 is commonly marked by a circular 

 valve. In the Bogue-bream (Box 



Diagram of digestive organs, Xiphias. 



XXVIII. 



xxxni. pi. 25, figs. 1 and 2. 



