DR. J. MURIB ON THE ANATOMY OF THE SEA-LION. 



559 



both the right and left hypochondriac regions, was not seen to descend or come poste- 

 riorly further than the ensiform cartilage. This viscus was equally divided into right 

 and left moieties by the falciform ligament and the remains of the foetal vessels. The 

 stomach was barely visible, being situated deeply in the left hypochondriac region, 

 and almost entirely hidden by the liver. The great omentum, in the present instance 

 perfectly devoid of fat, thin and quite transparent, did not, as is most commonly the 

 case in Carnivora, cover the intestines, but was partially sunk among the folds of 

 the gut. Nearly the whole visible contents of the abdomen seemed to be occupied 

 by the small intestines ; only a small portion of the rectum peered out behind them 

 and towards the right iliac region. The empty and contracted urinary bladder extended 

 forwards no great distance beyond the symphysis pubis. The caecum, firmly attached 

 to the mesentery, lay towards the right side of the spine and between the ensiform 

 cartilage and pubes, being rather towards the former. From the caecum the great 

 intestine runs backwards to the iliac region, forms a loop and returns forwards again ; 

 then, with only a partial transverse fold, reaches the left of the spine, lying at this part 

 behind the unusually loose kidney. Above the superior fundus of the bladder its rectal 

 fold directs itself towards the median line, and passes into the pelvis, at first rather to 

 the right side of the bladder. 



Fig. 5. 



Reduced sketch of the position of the ahdominal viscera, as 

 seen when opened, 



ex. Ensiform cartilage. L. Liver, br.l. The broad liga- 

 ment. B. Urinary bladder. 



[Compare with corresponding view in the Walrus, Trans. 

 Zool. Soc. vol. vii. pi. 55. fig. 20.] 



b. The (Esophagus. — Taking this wide tube as commencing at the lower border of the 

 inferior constrictor muscle, it measures from this to the cardiac orifice of the stomach 

 22^ inches in length.' In the contracted condition its mucous membrane is tough and 

 elastic, and thrown into very numerous interlacing and strongly ridged, pale-coloui-ed, 

 longitudinal plicae. The submucous areolar tissue is plentiful, and the muscular coat 

 very strong and thick. 



4h2 



