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XIV. On the Anatomy of the Great Anteater (Myrmecophaga jubata, Linn.). — Part II. 

 By Professor Owen, F.R.S., F.Z.S. 8fc. 



Read February 10, 1857. 



IN my former communication on the Anatomy of the Great Anteater ', the position of 

 the stomach and its relations to adjoining viscera were briefly pointed out. In the 

 present paper I propose to describe the form and structure of this very remarkable 

 organ in the Myrmecophaga jubata. 



Moderately distended (PI. LI.), the stomach presents a subglobular form, of about 

 8 inches diameter, with a smaller subglobular appendage as it seems, of about 3 inches 

 diameter (g, g,), intervening between the main cavity (c, c) and the intestine (»j). 



The oesophagus (a) terminates near the middle of the upper surface of the main 

 portion, of which about 4 inches extend to the left of the cardia, to form what Haller 

 called the ' saccus csecus.' The general configuration of the stomach, as seen from 

 the anterior surface, is shown in Plate LI. 



On the middle of both the anterior and posterior surfaces of the stomach is a sheet 

 of tendon {d), of an irregular triangular form, 6 inches in longest diameter, which is in 

 the direction of the length of the stomach, and in which the tendon extends from the 

 large to the small division of the organ, expanding upon both divisions, but acquiring 

 upon the latter its greatest thickness and whitest colour. 



Upon bisecting the stomach lengthwise, as in Plate LIL, the part described as the 

 main cavity (c, c) is seen to correspond with the cardiac division, and the appendage {h, i) 

 to correspond with the pyloric division of the stomach, in Rodentia : but they are much 

 more distinct in structure and functions in the Myrmecophaga jubata than in any other 

 mammal with a stomach similarly divided externally. The cardiac cavity has a vascular 

 secreting surface, the lining membrane being disposed in very numerous small wavy 

 rugae : at the parts where the parietes have yielded most to the distending force, 

 the rugae are nearly effaced : other larger and more permanent folds are confined to 

 the vicinity of the communication (/) with the pyloric cavity, and converge towards the 

 aperture (PI. LIII. fig. 1, e). 



The cardiac orifice in the inverted stomach (PI. LIII. fig. 1 , b) presents the form of 

 a narrow, slightly bent crescentic slit. It is situated about 3h inches from the similarly 

 shaped aperture (/) of communication between the cardiac and the pyloric cavities : 



' Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. iv. p. 117. 



