188 The Alligator and Its Allies. 
occasional exception, near the top, all of the nuclei 
are arranged in a fairly wide zone below the middle 
of the epithelium. The nuclei are oval in shape and 
lie so close together that it is difficult, as has been 
said, to be sure that the cell to which each belongs 
extends throughout the entire thickness of the 
epithelium. 
Beneath the epithelium (Fig. 52, e) is a dense 
tunica propria, tf, underlaid, in turn, by the 
muscularis mucosa, mm, and a submucosa, sm, 
of the usual character, which is thrown into marked 
folds. The circular, cm, and longitudinal, Im, 
layers are of the usual character except that they 
vary more in thickness, as noted above, and in 
density than is usually the case. 
The serosa, s, is comparatively thin and com- 
pact in both regions, and varies somewhat in 
thickness at different places. 
The large intestine of the feeding animal was 
sectioned in the same regions as in the hibernating. 
As has been said, the feeding animals used were 
much smaller than the hibernating, so that, as 
might be expected, the diameter of the large 
intestine was much less in the former than in the 
latter. Except for this difference in diameter 
there was no noticeable difference between the two 
stages. In the case of the small intestine, it will 
be remembered, the greater diameter of the intes- 
tine of the larger animal was mainly due to the 
greater thickness of the muscular and connective- 
