496 ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES. 



of a more definite and compact form than in Ly> or Liss-encephala : 

 its duodenal and splenic divisions are, however, well marked and 

 subequal: the former usually describes a circle, as in fig. 351, e, 

 following that of the comparatively long and loose duodenum ; 

 the latter, ib. f, is straight and transverse in course : both por- 

 tions are triedral, and have an entire, or nearly entire, serous 

 coat ; and in some species this is continued from one of the angles 

 as a narrow suspensory fold of the gland, from the posterior part 

 of the great omentum in the splenic portion. 1 In the Lion and 

 most Felines, the duct of the annular part sometimes communi- 

 cates with that of the splenic part at two points, and the main 

 duct communicates with the bile-duct, before entering the intes- 

 tine. In the Dog the duodenal portion follows the descending 

 course of that gut, and is longer than the splenic division, which 

 it joins at a right angle : the ducts of each part unite between 

 the duodenal coats, before joining the bile-duct, which is distinct 

 external to the duodenum, and can be separately tied. Cuvier 

 notes, as a rare structure or anomaly, a lateral reservoir for the 

 pancreatic secretion in the Cat : its duct, about an inch and a half 

 in length, communicated with the common duct formed by those 

 of the two parts of the pancreas, which joins the bile-duct, as in 

 the Lion. The dilatation or sac between the tunics of the duo- 

 denum in the Seal-tribe is common to the pancreatic and biliary 

 secretions. 



In the Aye- aye the pancreas is a broad thin gland, extending 

 and expanding from near the spleen to the duodenum, and thence 

 continued, as the f small pancreas,' a little way beyond the entry 

 of the duct, which is close to that of the gall-duct : here the gland 

 sends off some short narrow processes into the fold of the mesen- 

 tery : it is, however, more compact, less ramified and diffused, than 

 in Rodents. The duodenum being relatively shorter and less 

 loosely suspended in both the Aye-aye and Lemurs, the part 

 corresponding to the ? small pancreas ' is less developed than in 

 Lissencephala : but it is more developed than in the true Quad- 

 rumana, in which the duodenum becomes still more confined in 

 position. The left end of the pancreas is rather loosely suspended 

 in both Lemurs and Platyrhines : in Catarhines it has only a 

 partial covering from the epiploon, and the gland acquires its 

 fixedness and compactness of form which characterise it in them. 

 Here the duodenal or small pancreas, fig. 381, h, is reduced to an 

 enlargement called the ' head,' and which occasionally follows in 

 a short curve the bend of the duodenum : it more rarely repeats 



1 xlvii". p. 132. (Cheetah,) 



