INTESTINAL TRACT OF MAMMALS. 503 



Order PROSIMI.E. 



Sub-Order TAJRSILDiE. 

 Family Taesiinje. 



I have had no opportunity of examining Tardus. Burmeister (3), however, in his 

 well-known monograph, has described and figured the intestinal tract. There appears 

 to be no distinct duodenal tract. Meckel's tract is relatively long, and is disposed in 

 irregular loops at the circumference of an oval expanse of mesentery. There is a 

 capacious, spirally twisted caecum. The hind-gut is extremely small, but much larger 

 in calibre than the fore-gut ; there is a slight trace of a colic loop and a very short, 

 straight rectum. 



Sub-Order LEMURID^. 



Family Lemukiisle. Lemur mongoz var. nigrifrons (fig. 39, p. 504), L. rufifrons, 

 Chirogaleus cocquereli (fig. 40, p. 505). 



In these Lemurs there is no very distinct duodenal loop. Meckel's tract varies in 

 length and in the complexity and number of its minor loops. In Lemur mongoz 

 var. nigrifrons (fig. 39) these are present on the proximal half of the nearly circular 

 expanse of mesentery, absent on the distal half; in L. rufifrons, there are rather more 

 minor loops, and in Chirogaleus (fig. 40) the minor loops occur all round the expanse 

 of mesentery. The caecum is always present and is capacious ; in the species of Lemur 

 that I have examined the caecum is extremely long ; in Chirogaleus it is relatively 

 much shorter. The hind-gut shows two distinct regions. There is a colic loop, which 

 is long and narrow in Lemur, but relatively much shorter in Chirogaleus, and a rectal 

 portion nearly straight, which varies in length. The anterior mesenteric vein receives 

 a number of rather irregularly placed tributaries from Meckel's tract, and a large 

 csecal vein, and is joined by a posterior mesenteric vein that drains both the colic loop 

 and the rectum. 



Family Indrisin^e. 

 I have had no opportunity of examining any members of this family. Flower (5), 

 however, lias published an account of the intestinal tract of Lndris brevicaudatus. He 

 describes the whole intestinal tract as being of extraordinary length, comparable in 

 relation to the size of the animal with that of grass-eatino; Rodents. No special 

 description of the duodenum and Meckel's tract is given, but these would appear to 

 differ little except in length from the corresponding structures in true Lemurs. The 

 caecum is enormously long and of great capacity. The hind-gut is differentiated into a 

 very long irregularly looped colic region and a rectal region. No aceouut is given 

 of the mesenteric veins. 



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