INTESTINAL TRACT OF MAMMALS. 493 



Order GALEOPITHECID^. 



I much regret that I have been unable to examine a specimen of this order. 

 Flower (5) states that the caecum is very long, and that the hind-gut exceeds in length 

 the fore-gut. Leche (12), in his monograph on the genus, does not figure the whole 

 intestinal tract, but in his short description gives sufficient indications that the gut is 

 very unlike that of the Insectivora or Chiroptera, and much more like that of the 

 Lemurs. It appears that the duodenum is more or less distinct and that Meckel's 

 tract consists of a number of loops of narrow calibre. The caecum is long and wide. 

 The hind-gut is very long, longer than the fore-gut, and is divided into three regions. 

 Proximally there is a very wide region, continuous with the caecum and similar to it 

 in structure. Next follows a long colic portion, the arrangement of which I cannot 

 follow from the description, and finally a rectal portion. 



Order CARNIVORA. 

 Sub-Order PINNIPEDIA. 



Family OtariidjE. Otaria californiana (fig. 32, p. 494). 



The duodenum is not well separated from Meckel's tract. The latter is enormously 

 long, rather thick-walled, and of even and small calibre, recalling the character of the 

 intestinal tract in fish-eating birds ; it is arranged in a very large number of irregular 

 loops which form a contorted mass at the circumference of an elongated, oval expanse 

 of mesentery. The distal, or recurrent, portion is nearly straight. There is a short 

 caecum. The hind-gut can hardly be separated into colic and rectal portions, but the 

 proximal part forms a somewhat enlarged loop. The anterior mesenteric vein curves 

 round the Meckelian mesentery, receiving numerous, regularly disposed tributaries 

 from the minor loops. It is joined near the edge of the mesentery by a posterior 

 mesenteric vein. 



Family Trichechim:. 

 I have had no opportunity of examining any example of this family ; but Flower (5) 

 states that the intestinal tract is similar to that of the Phocidas. 



Family Phocid.e. Phoca mtulina. 



There is no difference of importance between the patterns of the gut displayed in the 

 Sea-Lions and in the Seals. In the latter, the duodenum is rather more distinct; 

 Meckel's tract is perhaps rather longer. The caecum is longer and narrower. The 

 hind-gut and the arrangement of the blood-vessels are similar in the two families. 



The character of the gut in the Pinnipedes shows not the smallest resemblance to 

 that of the Sirenia. It has a superficial similarity to the gut of the Cetacea, but this 



vol. xvii. — part v. No. 8. — December, L905. 3c 



