318 DRS HEPBURN AND WATERSTON ON THE 



about its middle, a small spleen aiid an accessory mass of lymphoid tissue. The other 

 border, ventral in position, was curved, and was in two parts. The anterior part was 

 blended with the coats of the second chamber, while the posterior half was free, and 

 united only by a peritoneal fold to the second chamber in the anterior half. 



The surfaces were left dorsal, and right ventral. The former was free and entirely 

 invested by peritoneum. The latter was flat, and in its upper part was in contact with 

 the left surface of the pancreas, which here projected into the angle between chambers 

 1 and 2. This surface was crossed obliquely by the line of reflection of the 

 peritoneum. The interior was filled with food consisting of fish which had been crushed 

 and triturated so that the flesh was entirely removed from the bones, while the latter 

 were, for the most part, disarticulated from each other. The food was moist, but not at 

 all wet or pulpy, so that the treatment to which it had been subjected in this chamber 

 might be called " dry mastication." The interior of this " kau-magen " presented 

 appearances which quite corresponded with its apparent functions. Its walls were 

 covered by a thick, white, almost porcellaneous lining, which was everywhere thrown into 

 bold, prominent ruga?. On the ventral wall of the chamber, and immediately behind the 

 oesophageal opening, the rugse were thrown into a cauliflower-like projection, and in the 

 centre of this mass a careful examination revealed the outlet of the chamber. The inlet 

 and outlet were thus remarkably close to each other, but, besides being situated at right 

 angles to each other, the manner in which the outlet was concealed within a mass of 

 prominent rugae made it quite impossible for food to enter indiscriminately from the 

 oesophagus into the second, as well as the first, compartment. In the first instance, it 

 was only possible for food to enter the first chamber. To the naked eye, the lining 

 membrane was continuous with, and of the same nature as, the lining membrane of the 

 oesophagus. 



Under the microscope (PI. II. fig. 3), the lining membrane was found to be situated 

 upon a well-marked layer of loose areolar tissue in which numerous capillary blood- 

 vessels ramified. Its vertical thickness measured almost 1 cm. The free surface 

 was extensively but not deeply corrugated, while its deep surface was interrupted by 

 numerous narrow clefts extending towards the free surface for varying distances, but 

 usually not more than half-way. The whole arrangement was closely suggestive of 

 the rete malpighi and stratified epithelial layers of skin, while the areolar tissue and 

 vascular prolongations, which occupied the subjacent furrows or clefts, bore a close 

 resemblance to the arrangement of the papillae of the true skin. In the deeper layers, 

 the cells of this lining membrane presented rounded nuclei, which stained deeply. 

 Nearer to the free surface the nuclei stained less distinctly, but their rounded character 

 was well maintained. Comparatively close to the surface, the nuclei became markedly 

 flattened, and, at the same time, the cell stratification became pronounced. At this 

 level also, and onwards to the free surface, the tissue was distinctly paler because it 

 absorbed less of the staining agent. At no part of the membrane was there any 

 trace of any arrangement for secretion. 



