1876.] 



CECUM COLT OF THE CAPYBARA. 



21 



which are but an extreme exaggeration of those observed in many of 

 the allied forms. 



In most of those mammals in which a caecum is present, that 

 organ is simply a direct continuation backwards of the colon beyond 

 the place of junction of the small and large intestines. In some 

 Rodents, however, this is not the case, the sacculated caecum in 

 them not being a direct continuation of the larger gut, but a lateral 

 diverticulum from a true but simple caecum. 



In his account of the anatomy of Capromys fournieri*, Prof. 

 Owen remarks that the arrangement at the ilio-colic junction is such 

 that " the two orifices of the blind intestine [that into the ileum and 

 that into the colon] are analogous to the cardia and pylorus of the 

 stomach ;" and in his 'Anatomy of Vertebrates 't the same illustrious 



Fig. 1. 



Sacculated and simple caeca of the Capybara. The continuation of the colon 

 is seen at a. The small intestine at its termination cannot be seen, being 

 hidden in the proximal angular bend of the sacculated caecum. 



author tells us, with reference to the same animal, that " the caecum 

 is marked off from the colon by a valvular structure, similar to that 

 at the end of the ileum." This is an approximation to the condition 

 which obtains in the animal under consideration. 



In the Capybara the small intestine enters the enormous saccu- 



* P. Z. S. 1832, p. 70. t Fol. iii. p. 425. 



