DE. J. MUEIE ON THE OEaAJnZATION 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. sibhaldii^, 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 iKao arteries 

 of the female 6. melas. 



0, abdominal aorta ; im, inferior mesenteric ; /, lateral 

 lumbar branch ; ci, ci*, common iliac trunk ; hi/, hypo- 

 gastric ; ei, external Uiac division ; 2«, internal iliac 

 a n (1, 2) branches. 



' Loe. cit. p. 231. 



^ Hunter, always alert in physiological inferences, preserved a most interesting specimen, no. 862, Cat. Mus. : 



