428 MR. W. A. FORBES ON THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. [May 6, 



capacious large intestine 1 6 feet l . The latter was arranged on a 

 mesocolon, jnst as in Prof. Flower's description 2 of the Indian spe- 

 cies. The caecum was large and sacculated, forming a broad and 

 blunt cone 22 inches long. It lay on the right side, near the middle 

 line of the belly, pointing forwards. Prof. Flower {I. c.) found it in 

 a similar position on the left side in a foetal African Elephant. 



The mucous membrane of the duodenum is raised up into irre- 

 gularly transverse, almost dendritic, closely set, slightly elevated 

 rugae. These continue throughout the whole length of the small 

 intestine, but towards the ileum become arranged more longitudinally. 

 For about 6 inches before its opening into the large intestine the ileum 

 is surrounded internally by large, elevated, pitted glandular patches, 

 caused by a breaking-up and intersection of the rugae, and somewhat 

 resembling an immensely broadened Peyer's patch. For about the 

 last 1| inch of the ileum these patches disappear, leaving the mucous 

 membrane only slightly longitudinally wrinkled. The longest of 

 these elevated patches is about 1| inch long. The ileo-caecal valve 

 is only represented by the prominent edges of the ileum, which pro- 

 ject into the colon in a ring-like manner. The ileum is here, when 

 cut up and laid flat, A\ inches across. The mucous membrane of 

 both colon and caecum is smooth, with only slight irregular folds. 



Liver. — All authors from Perrault onwards have described the 

 Elephant's liver as being composed of two lobes. In his lectures on 

 the organs of digestion of the Mammalia, published some years since in 

 the 'Medical Times and Gazette,' Prof. Flower (7. c. Oct. 5, 1872, 

 p. 372), thus describes this organ (presumably in the Indian form) : — 

 "The liver is small for the size of the animal and of simple form, 

 being only divided by an umbilical fissure into two lobes, of which 

 the right is the larger." But this statement does not quite acurately 

 describe the facts of the case. As may be seen from the annexed 

 figures (figs. 2 and 4, p. 426) taken from drawings by Prof. Garrod 

 (who was the first to point this out to me), of the liver of Elephas in- 

 dicus, the supensory ligament runs not in, but a little to the right of, 

 the large notch which has been taken for the umbilical fissure by most 

 authors, and is there connected, as usual, by a thin membranous ex- 

 pansion with the round ligament. In this species there is no um- 

 bilical notch visible 3 . 



In Elephas africanus (figs. 3 and 5, p. 427), the suspensory liga- 

 ment lies still further to the right of the large notch, and there is a 

 conspicuous umbilical notch (about 2| inches deep), visible on both 

 surfaces of the liver. 



From a comparison of the two livers it becomes clear that in both 

 species the liver consists of three lobes, a right lobe (slightly divided 



1 Perrault gives 38 feet and 22 feet as the lengths of the small and large 

 intestines respectively in, his specimen ; so that the ratios of the two measure- 

 ments are nearly the same. The cai'eum measured 1| foot. 



2 Med. Times and Gazette, Oct. 5, 1872, p. 372. 



8 In a liver of E. indicus, in the Koyal College of Surgeons (810 F) there is 

 visible, at the place where tho round ligament is lost in the substance of the 

 liver, a narrow fissure, which runs obliquely for some way towards the margin, 

 but does not reach it ; so that there is no notch formed. 



