DR. J. MURIE ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CAAING WHALE, 271 
connexion with it exteriorly, and even more so than is shown in the drawing ; for a great 
part has been cleared away to bring out the shape of the gland. Many of the vessels 
also penetrate the glandular substance, and ramify therein. The centre, somewhat 
fibrous in texture, is more solid than the cortex; the latter locular, and in section 
uncommonly like the open mouths of the surrounding rete mirabile. The very great 
blood-supply which these glands receive, makes one suspect their function to be sub- 
servient to the extraordinary sanguineous distribution; yet, on the other hand, their 
constitution, ceteris paribus, agrees with a magnified lymphatic gland. The loculi, 
often the size of a pin’s head, evidently correspond with the so-called lymphatic sinuses ; 
but they are diminutive as compared with the cavities of disintegration met with by me 
in the mesenteric glands. 
Some novel and important observations of Professor Turner on a large moniliform 
tube in the mesentery of B. sibbaldii’, make me see likeness in it to the above-mentioned 
glands. Both, taken in conjunction with the superficial pulmonary glands, would seem 
to support Turner’s views of their being diffusers of the arterial stream. This theory, 
however, I am not inclined to adopt. I recognize in them intimate association with 
the absorbents, kinds of lymphatic hearts in their way; and moreover I apprehend they 
bear a relationship to the so-called coccygeal gland of human anatomy. It is quite 
conceivable, and, indeed, I think probable, that the vascular and absorbent systems of 
the Cetacea are in far closer connexion than has hitherto been supposed. Such a view 
is credible, and supported by those who maintain that there is a direct interchange of 
material between the lymph- and blood-channels within the ordinary lymphatic glands”. 
Fig. 5, 
Diagram illustrating division of the iliac arteries 
of the female G. melas. 
ao, abdominal aorta; im, inferior mesenteric; 7, lateral 
lumbar branch ; ¢cé, e?*, common iliactrunk; hy, hypo- 
gastric; ez, external iliac division; 7%, internal iliac 
an (1, 2) branches. 
* Loe. cit. p. 231. 
* Hunter, always alert in physiological inferences, preserved a most interesting specimen, no. 862, Cat. Mus. : 
