122 PBor. w. B. BENHAM OK THE [May 21, 



I quote from Turner's memoir [13], who summarizes the account 

 given by Dr. Jackson [3] of the stomach of the Sperm Whale. 

 " The iirst cavity is nearly globular, and is lined by a 

 continuation of the cuticle and cutis from the oesophagus. The 

 2nd cavity opens freely into both oesophagas and the iirst cavity. 

 It is elongated, and the rugae on its inner surface are nowhere 

 strongly marked. The 3rd cavity is elongated, narrow at its 

 commencement, but becomes dilated and curved upon itself. The 

 mucous coat is less rugose than in the 2nd cavity. There is no 

 small intermediate chamber between the 2nd and 3rd. The 3rd 

 cavity opens into a dilatation by an orifice ^ inch in diameter ; this 

 dilatation ends in the intestine." 



Of course by " 1st cavity" is meant what in his paper Turner 

 speaks of as " paunch ; " the " 2nd cavity " is the cardiac chamber, 

 and the 3rd cavity is the pyloric chamber. Unfortunately, this 

 summary does not enable us to form a very vivid picture of the 

 Sperm-whale's stomach, as we are not told where the 3rd chamber 

 originates from the 2nd, nor the relative size of the parts ; but, so 

 far as it goes, it appears that Gogia has a stomach of the same kind. 

 At any rate, we have the evidence, that Prof. Turner desired to 

 have, that in the Physeteridse the ]st chamber is a pannch. 



According to the account of the Cachalot's stomach given by 

 Pouchet and Beauregard [9] the " first chamber " is, in its upper 

 part, lined by a mucous membrane similar to that of the oesophagus, 

 while in the lov^er part a " gastric epithelium " exists. Thus this 

 chamber is partly " paunch," partly cardiac region of stomach. 

 It appears that though the boundary between the two kinds of 

 mucous membrane is distinct, there is no constriction here. 



The " pyloric chamber " is separated from the two following or 

 " duodenal chambers " by a short definite duct. 



Of the two " duodenal chambers," the first is lined by a smooth 

 mucous membrane ; while, in the second, valvulce conniventes are 

 present \ 



Without access to the original account, it is difficult to correlate 

 this description with Jackson's with certainty. But it seems that 

 the " narrow commencement " of the 3rd elongated chamber of his 

 account corresponds to the "true duct" of Pouchet and Beauregard, 

 and their " first duodenal chamber " with its smooth lining is 

 Jackson's dilated part of the 3rd chamber. 



There is one point in the above account that is of general 

 importance, viz. : the absence of any constriction between the 

 paunch and cardiac region of the stomach. Have we, here, a 

 commencement of the process by which a part of the stomach 

 becomes modified to serve as a receptacle for food, by the down- 

 growth of the oesophageal membrane ? or, is an original paunch 

 being invaded by gastric epithelium ? 



^ But it is not clear from the abstract in the Zool. Jaliresher. whether the 

 2nd "cavite" is the pyloric, or whether a third "chambre" (pyloric) also 

 exists. 



