606 



EEL-SHAPED SIREN. 



strait^ forming what may be called the colon, or 

 rectum, Avhere they are a little larger, and run to 

 the vent in a strait direction. At the beginning of 

 this larger part of the intestinal tube there is no 

 valvular structure. The spleen is a very small but 

 long body : its anterior end is attached to the upper 

 surface of the stomach, and it is continued back 

 along the left side of the mesentery, to which it 

 adheres. The pancreas is a small body, lying 

 above the duodenum, and is attached also to the 

 left side of the mesentery. The kidneys are situ- 

 ated in the upper and posterior part of the abdo- 

 men, having the rectum below and passing be- 

 tween them, as in the snake, &c. Below the rectum 

 lies a long bag like a bladder ; it adheres all along 

 to the inside of the abdominal muscles, and its 

 mouth opens into the rectum ; but whether it is the 

 bladder or not I cannot tell. On each side of the 

 rectum, close to the lungs, there is a body, the 

 posterior end of which rests upon the anterior end 

 of the kidney ; but what they are I cannot pre- 

 tend to determine." 



The celebrated anatomist Camper seems to have 

 deceived himself in a singular manner, in his ex- 

 amination of this extraordinary animal ; asserting 

 that it was destitute of lungs ; and, in conse- 

 quence, considering it as breathing by gills alone, 

 in the manner of fish, regarded it as a species of 

 Muraena or Eel, in which genus it is accordingly 

 placed in the Gmelinian edition of the Systema 

 NaturcE ; under the name of Muraena Siren. The 

 opinion of Camper, however, is now allowed to 



