THE ALIMENTARY CANAL, 235 
cavity, mostly to the left of the middle line. Its cardiac end 
is in contact by its dorsal surface with the dorsal, nearly hori- 
zontal, portion of the diaphragm. On its ventral side the 
cardiac end does not touch the diaphragm, so that a small part 
of the cesophagus passes here for a short distance into the 
abdominal cavity, to join the stomach. The communication 
of cesophagus and stomach is by a simple conical increase in 
Fic. 97.—STOMACH, VENTRAL VIEW. 
a, cesophagus; 4, cardiac end of the stomach; ¢, lesser curvature; ¢, greater 
curvature; e, fundus; /, pyloric valve; g, part of duodenum. 
size of the former. The pyloric end of the stomach extends 
to the right of the middle line, becoming constantly smaller; 
at its junction with the duodenum there is a constriction which 
marks the position of the pyloric valve (/). This valve is 
formed by a ring-like thickening of the circular muscle-fibres 
of the alimentary canal, forming a sphincter muscle at the 
junction of the stomach and duodenum and causing a projection 
of the mucosa into the lumen of the canal. The ventral surface 
of the stomach lies against the liver except when the stomach 
is much distended with food, when the ventral surface comes 
to lie against the ventral abdominal wall. 
The stomach is supported by the great omentum and the 
gastrohepatic ligament. It is connected with the duodenum 
by the gastroduodenal ligament; with the spleen by the gas- 
trolienal ligament. 
