Sperm Whale and other Cetaceans. 141 
The esophagus was 20 inches in length from the*ericoid 
cartilage, and not remarkably capacious ; muscular coat thick, 
and lined by a smooth cutis and cuticle. 
The stomach in this order of animals, as in the ruminants, 
is composed of several cavities, the number being generally 
four or five. In the present case there were but three, and 
| the appearances have been most perfectly represented in a 
i figure drawn by Dr. J. Wyman, Plate XIV. 
: The first cavity (marked 5 in the figure,) is commonly de- 
scribed as a mere ovoid dilatation of the cesophagus, but here 
it is nearly of a globular form, projects so far towards the left 
‘Side as to form a cul de sac, as in the human stomach, and - 
is altogether about the size of a man’s head ; the size and form 
of it, however, probably depend somewhat upon the age of 
the animal, as in case of the ruminants. The cutis and cuticle 
are continued throughout from the cesophagus (a), and, where 
they abruptly terminate, the second cavity is supposed to com- 
mence. The inner surface was sufficiently smooth, but the cu- 
icle being partially detached, there were seen upon its under 
surface, numerous rounded papille, corresponding undoubtedly 
With follicles in the cutis. "The muscular coat in this, as in all 
di 9f the other cavities, was tolerably thick. Mr. Hunter sup- 
~ Posed the first cavity of the stomach in the cetaceans to be a 
mere reservoir, as in the ruminants; but this idea is now fully 
disproved, and the object of the ‘cuticular structure remains 
Unexplained. In the case of the sperm whale this structure 
75 particularly remarkable, considering the nature of its food, 
Which, according to Mr. Beale, is the soft squid, this being, as 
bose he remarks, the only animal which it ejects when wounded; —— 
T. the same observation has been repeatedly made by - " ee 
E Chase, and the confirmation is important, as being so ¢ i B : 
.  SPPoSed to the statement of F. Cuvier. (p. 298.) In the 
, Present case nothing was found in any one of the cavities but 
oS little Water, and some fine greenish sand, the animal not 
: having taken any food, probably, since it was separated from 
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