1881.] MR. W. A. FORBES ON THE KOALA. 183 



epigastric and left hypochondriac regions, the pylorus being directed 

 towards the right side; and it is there in contact with the gall-bladder. 

 The liver does not appear. The commencement of the trans- 

 verse colon is visible, running downwards towards the left, be- 

 low, but parallel with, the greater curvature of the stomach. The 

 great omentum is attached to the transverse colon in the right hypo- 

 chondrium, and does not cover the mass of the viscera. The greater 

 part of the rest of the abdominal cavity is occupied by the great, 

 longitudinally plicated, folds of the caecum and ceecum-like ascending 

 colon, a few folds of the small intestine appearing between the 

 transverse colon and a great fold, apparently the csecum, which runs 

 transversely across the middle of the abdominal cavity. On turning 

 back these great superficial folds the end of the caecum is seen pass- 

 ing downwards to the left of the rectum, behind the uteri and bladder, 

 to terminate, deep in the pelvic cavity, close to the cloaca ! The 

 descending colon, which is narrow and of the ordinary appearance, is 

 very long, and is arranged on a broad mesocolon to the right of the 

 vertebral column, forming here a series of loose loops, which, how- 

 ever, are not closely coiled together on each other as in Ruminants. 

 The right kidney lies superficially to the liver. The duodenal loop 

 passes downwards and to the right, and overlies the right kidnej', 

 but passes under the ascending colon just here. 



The stomach is cylindrical and sac-like. Its length, moderately 

 distended, is about 3^ inches; its greatest depth, opposite the pyloric 

 constriction, 1^ inch. There is a well-marked cardiac fundus to the 

 left of the oesophagus, and the pyloric part is slightly bent on the 

 cardiac part ; this latter is marked off internally by a distinct fold 

 of the mucous membrane, which is smooth and pale, with some slight 

 traces of rugae in the cardiac fundus. 



The most marked peculiarity of the Koala's stomach is its pos- 

 session, as is well known, of a special gland-patch, similar to that 

 found in the Beaver ' and Wombat ". This gland-patch forms a 

 slight elevation externally on the lesser curvature of the stomach, 

 just on the pyloric side of the entrance of the oesophagus. It is 

 somewhat saddle-shaped, with a transverse extent of 1*4 inch. In- 

 ternally it forms an eminence about the size of a florin, which includes 

 the entrance of the oesophagus. The mucous membrane on the 

 gland-patch, around the entrance of the oesophagus, is red and vas- 

 cular ; elsewhere in the stomach, as already stated, it is quite pale. 

 The openings of the gland-patch are about 30 in number, of varying 

 sizes, and irregularly arranged over the eminence. Some of the 

 openings of the gland are complicated, several smaller openings de- 

 bouching into a larger one ; and the area occupied by the openings 

 is not symmetrical. The general appearance of this patch is well 

 represented by Sir Everard Home's figure (Z. c.) of that of the 

 Wombat. In this latter animal the general structure and form of 

 the stomach are also very like that here described ; but it is more 



1 Cf. Owen, Anat. Yert. iii. p. 422. 



a Home, Phil. Truiis. 1808, p. o07, pi. ix. 



