224 RODENTIA. 



the Fallopian tubes, so that it is hard to say where the tube exactly 

 begins. The ovaria are oval bodies of a yellow colour, studded with 

 dark or seeming-transparent spots : the capsula ovarii is loose and wide - 

 mouthed. (N.B. These additional notes were taken from a Hudson's 

 Bay porcupine 1 .) 



A small Porcupine [Loncheres or Echimys, Geoff.] . 



About the thickness of a rat, but not so long. It has both hair and 

 quills : the quills are flat. There are two venae eavae superiores. The 

 liver has five lobes, with the Spigelian lobule. I could find no gall- 

 bladder. The stomach is more globular than the human : the pylorus 

 opens into the side of the duodenum, which makes a kind of caecum at 

 the beginning of the duodenum. 



The duodenum passes down to the left and up. The ileum passes 

 into the colon ; beyond which there is a long caecum, which has a double 

 end, or rather passes into the side of another gut which is blind at both 

 ends, forming two caeca. The colon passes up the right before the duo- 

 denum, and at the pylorus it makes a twist or fold which bends upon 

 itself; it then makes a turn down in the root of the mesentery, and up 

 again, going to the left, and down the left side. On the caecum there 

 are the longitudinal bands, and also on the ascending part of the colon ; 

 so that they are pursed in different places. 



There are two ora tincae. In the horns of the uterus were three 

 young : the young had a long tail ; but the old one had not. She has 

 eight nipples. 



[Family CASTORIDjE.] 



The Beaver [Castor canadensis^. 



The beaver is thick and flat in its body like the otter, more so than 

 the human. The legs are short ; the thighs of the hind-legs are so 

 short as not to project below the belly at the knee : the fore-feet are a 

 good deal like those of the badger or racoon, only the claws are much 

 longer ; but the strength and motion of the fingers would seem to be 

 inverted ; for what answers to the little finger is the strongest, and has 

 the greatest motion, acting as a kind of thumb : it has more the figure 

 and motion of a finger than a toe, being flattened forwards, and having 

 a nail, not a claw. The ring-finger is something of the same kind, as 

 is also the middle finger ; but what answer to the fore-finger and thumb 



1 [Hunt. Prep. No. 2750.] 



2 [The specimens illustrating the osteology of this species are Nos. 2163 — 2165, 

 2167 — 2199, from three individuals, in the Hunterian Osteol. Series.] 



