FISHES. 339 



tlilation, and when the stomach is unable to hold the whole 

 of the prey whicli has been seized, a part remains in the 

 gullet until the inferior portion gives way. The zone of 

 gastric glands is in general well marked. 



The stomach of fishes is in general thin and membrana- 

 ceous, differing little in its structure and appearance from 

 the gullet. It frequently contains the remains of crusta- 

 ceous animals, still retaining their form, but greatly altered 

 in consistency. Hence naturalists have concluded, that the 

 food is reduced by solution, and not by trituration. But 

 in some fishes, particularly those which subsist principally 

 on shell-fish, the stomach has thick muscular coats. Its 

 shape varies in the different species, but the characters fur- 

 nished by this organ are seldom regarded. 



The intestines exhibit many remarkable peculiarities; 

 Sometimes they proceed directly from the stomach to the 

 anus in nearly a straight line. In other instances, they 

 form in their course one or more flexures. In some in- 

 stances, the gut is widest towards the stomach, and gra- 

 dually becomes smaller as it approaches the anus, while in 

 others the reverse of this is the case. It is furnished inter- 

 nally, in some species, with spiral valves, in others with lo- 

 zen-shaped hollows, while in a few it has numerous fringed 

 laminae. Between the great and small intestines, in the 

 chondropterygii, there is a kind of coecum or appendix 

 vermiformis ; but in osseous fishes there is no appearance 

 of any such organ. In the last division, however, there 

 are bodies which have been termed Appendices, or Intes- 

 tinula-coeca. These are situated at the origin of the gut, 

 in a double or single rov*^. They vary in number, shape, 

 or size, according to the species ; but continvie the same in 

 all the individuals of the same species. In place of these in 

 the chondropterygii, there is a glandular body, which has 

 been compared to the pancreas of warm-blooded animals. 



Y 9r 



