1879.] MR. W. A. FORBES ON THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. 425 



many animals, particularly Rodents. Dr. Watson and Messrs. Miall 

 and Greenwood only found the parotid gland present in their ex- 

 amples 1 . 



Alimentary Canal.— The oesophagus is of but small calibre ; at its 

 entrance into the stomach, when cut open and stretched out, it 

 measures 4 inches. 



The stomach in shape resembles that of the Indian Elephant as 

 figured by Camper and others. Its long axis lies almost vertically 

 in the animal, with the cardiac end directed upwards, the pyloric 

 being downwards. In a straight line it measures 26 inches from the 

 cardiac to pyloric ends ; from the extremity of the cul-de-sac, alon°- 

 the greater curvature to the pylorus, 3 b\ inches ; along the lower 

 curvature 18* inches. Its greatest depth is 9 inches, at the pylorus 

 only 3|. The rounded cul-de-sac, to the left of the entrance of the 

 oesophagus, is 9| inches long by 7| deep. Perrault gives 3± feet 

 by 14 inches as the dimensions of the stomach in his adult animal. 

 In his figure of this viscus (/. c. pi. 20) the cardiac cul-de-sac is 

 represented as nearly conical ; and in other respects his representation 

 is not good. 



The mucous membrane of the cardiac cul-de-sac is raised up into 

 about fifteen thick zonary folds, which are arranged with consider- 

 able regularity in that part of the stomach, but decrease both in 

 size and regularity as they approach the pyloric part ; so that the 

 posterior third of the inner part of the stomach is almost smooth, 

 with only slight and irregularly disposed rugee 2 . The folds are very 

 expansible ; but in the ordinary state none exceeds about 1 inch in 

 depth. The greater part are continuous all round the stomach ; but 

 others blend with adjacent folds ; so that it is not possible to count 

 the exact number with any great accuracy. The mucous membrane 

 of the oesophagus is sharply marked off' from that of the stomach : 

 here it is covered by numerous short slit-like depressions (probably 

 mucous canals) in the anterior two thirds ; but in the posterior third 

 these disappear or become obsolete. 



About 4 1 inches from the oesophagus, in the middle line of the 

 lesser curvature, is a small, blunt, slightly elevated, circular pro- 

 minence, pitted in the centre, of £ inch diameter, which is probably 

 glandular in nature. Prof. Garrod, in his MS. notes, records small 

 glands, apparently formed by the aggregation of several of these, as 

 occurring in a similar position in the Indian species. The pylorus 

 has no distinct valve. 



The length of the small intestine was 27 feet 4 inches, of the very 



1 Mr. Bartlett tells rue that in both sexes of the African Elephant the pecu- 

 liar temporal gland, which is found in the Indian species, and opens externally 

 between the eye and ear, is certainly present. I omitted, unfortunately, to look 

 for it. 



2 Mayers figure (Nov. Act. Acad. C. L. vol. xxii. pt. 1, pi. iv. fig. 3, 1847) of the 

 stomach of the Indian species does not sufficiently inchoate the regularly zonary 

 nature of these folds; iu that of Sir James Emerson Tennent ('The Wild 

 Elephant,' p. 59 [1867]), on the other hand, these folds are represented as 

 much too regular and sharply defined. 



