GALEUS COMMUNIS. 401 



smaller ; and about three inches below the diaphragm it terminates in 

 the stomach ; and this, indeed, is a continuation of the oesophagus ; for 

 it passes on in the same direction, not becoming much wider, but is 

 somewhat stronger. The stomach is about half a foot long, going near 

 the lower part of the abdomen in the direction of the oesophagus, and 

 terminates below in a blind pouch : it is pretty strong, and is thrown 

 into longitudinal ruga?. At its lower end and upon the right, passes 

 out a gut which is very small at its beginning. The orifice leading 

 from the stomach into this is extremely small ; therefore they must 

 either digest everything they swallow, or have the power to regurgitate ; 

 which last I think most probable, as a brickbat has been found in the 

 stomach of a shark 1 . The gut passes up upon the right of the stomach, 

 adhering to it for some way ; then makes ■ a turn down and enters 

 another gut which is larger. The whole of this canal, between what I 

 suppose to be the true stomach and the valvular intestine, appears to 

 me not to do either the office of a stomach or an intestine. It appears 

 no more than a conductor of the contents on to the intestine, for I do 

 not imagine any absorption takes place here ; and, as the stomach is 

 straight, not bent across the abdomen, and as the gut is also straight, 

 and from the construction of its valve cannot bend, the two are obliged 

 to he alongside each other. Therefore, as the lower end of the 

 stomach cannot oppose the upper end of the intestine, this canal of 

 communication is provided, and as this canal in its structure does not 

 appear to be calculated for the whole office of an intestine, the above 

 use becomes more obvious: at the termination of this canal there is a valve 

 like a pylorus, and this is what I have called pylorus in the description 

 of the ducts of the liver. From this the gut passes straight to the anus, 

 and is similar to the rectum in other animals, as to course, shape, and 

 situation. It has one spiral valve in it, which is very broad, about 3 or 

 4 inches broad. This, in some, is very close, so as to make the whole 

 of the inner surface of the gut. It is very much honeycombed on the 

 inner surface, so as to increase the surface or subdivide it 2 . This is the 

 true gut, and is where the chyle is absorbed from. The mesentery is 

 very irregular, and attaches the viscera to the back, as also to one 

 another, such as the stomach, pancreas, spleen, so that they are all 

 loose. In many places it is muscular. 



The liver, which is larger in proportion to the size of the animal than 

 in those of the land, is divided almost into two, being only united at 



1 [See p. 404.] 



2 [Hunt. Preps. Phys. Series, Nos. 651, 652, determined by dissection of a recent 

 specimen to be of the Galeus communis.'] 



VOL. II. 2 D 



