700 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE [Juiie 15, 



are to be referred to the subcardinals. And also that the 

 postcardinals partly persist as a portion of the spermatics. If 

 this be so, then the vein which I have just described will be 

 referable to a more largely persisting postcardinal on each side. 

 The orifices into the postcaval will be the remains of the 

 frequent junctions between the postcardinal and the subcardinal. 

 Innumerable such junctions, for instance, are figured by McClure 

 in the embryo Dasyure*. Moreover, a vein connecting in its 

 course the gonad and the suprarenal bodies and the parietes is 

 suggestive of the suprarenal parietals of the lower Vertebrata, 

 which are perhaps to be looked upon, as I have suggested, as 

 remnants of the postcardinals in that region. It will be noted, 

 of course, that this longitudinally running vein cannot possibly 

 be regarded as the missing posterior spermatic ; for it opens into 

 the postcardinals on each side in a region too anterior to permit 

 of a comparison with that vein in other Mammals. 



I did not find any caudal plexus of veins such as is to be met 

 with in many but not in all (?) Dasypodidse. 



The portal vein on reaching the pancreas received a strong 

 gastro-splenic branch consisting of a short vessel from the stomach 

 and a long vein running along the whole length of the pancreas 

 to the spleen. The main gastric branch entered nearer to its 

 entry into the liver. 



On the Postcaval Vein and its branches in Orycteropus capensis. 



In completing an account of the double postcaval vein and its 

 branches in Armadillos and in Hants gigantea, Dr. Hochstetter t 

 observed that " Das Yorkommen einer cloppelten hinteren Hohl- 

 vene scheint demnach bei den GUrtel- und Schuppenthieren die 

 Regel zu sein, vmd es ware nicht uninteressant, zu erfahren, wie 

 sich in dieser Richtung die anderen Edentaten verhalten." This 

 expectation was realised by the same writer, who later X described 

 these veins in the Bradypodidte. I have myself § dealt with a 

 few Armadillos which were not known to Hochstetter, and in 

 the present communication to the Society with the double post- 

 caval vein of Tamandua ||. 



I am now able to add an appendix descriptive of the postcaval 

 vein and its branches in Orycteropus, which have not, as I believe, 

 been described, unless my predecessors in this department of 

 anatomy have overlooked some earlier account. Even in that 

 case a redescription of veins, which are known to vary at times 

 from individual to individual, will not be without its use. 



The specimen of Orycteropus capyensis which I dissected was a 

 male which died on May 31st last ; it was not an old individual 

 for the testes Avere completely abdominal ^, lying not very far 



* Am. Joum. Nat. 1906, vol. v. p. 176, fig. 9. 



t Morph. Jahrb. Bd. xx. 1893, p. 622. 



X Morph. Jahrb. Bd. xxv. 1898, p. 362. 



§ P. Z. S. 1909, p. 505. II Bti,'pra, p. 699. 



f See Flower, " On the Edentates," P. Z. S. 1882, p. 364. 



