54 Proceedings of Boycd Society of Edinhurgh. [sess. 
long to ensure its complete mingling with the gastric juices was 
provided for. 
The dilatation referred to in the previous paragraph was situated 
at the extreme right of the stomach, and was directed towards the 
diaphragm. Its general form was globular ; its length was 18 inches, 
and its greatest girth 3 feet 6 inches. A short, funnel-shaped tube 
proceeded from its right aspect, which ended in the cylindriform 
intestine. The mucous lining of this dilatation was smooth. 
There was no valvular fold at the place where the funnel arose 
from the dilatation, but at the origin of the cylindriform intestine 
a projecting valvular fold was situated, which might, on the supposi- 
tion that the dilatation was the last compartment of the stomach, 
represent the pyloric valv^e. 
Descriptions of the stomach of the Lesser Rorqual have been 
written by John Hunter,* Eschricht,t Drs Carte and Macalister,J 
and Mr J. B. Perrin. § Their attention was specially directed to 
the number and general arrangement of the compartments, but 
their descriptions do not tally. Eschricht, whose observations were 
apparently limited to foetuses at different ages, stated that the 
stomach of this whale had only three compartments. Perrin 
described four, whilst Hunter, Carte and Macalister recognised five 
compartments. All these observers agreed in the presence of the 
compartments numbered as 1 and 2 in my figure. Hunter, Carte 
and Macalister described the compartment numbered 3, but this was 
not recognised either by Eschricht or Perrin. Compartment 4 is 
also described by the above anatomists, though the two last named 
regard it as the 3rd compartment. 
The question now to be considered is if the dilated cavity 
succeeding 4 is a compartment of the stomach or the dilated com- 
mencement of the duodenum. Hunter, Carte and Macalister make 
it the 5th compartment of the stomach. Perrin holds a similar 
view, but calls it the 4th compartment, whilst Eschricht does not 
definitely refer to it. Erom the fact that the valve-like opening 
into it from the 4th compartment is small, and near the middle of 
the intervening septum, and not at the edge, one would at first be 
inclined to regard the small valve-like opening as a pylorus, and the 
* Op. cit. + Die Norclischen Wallthiere. 
J Op. cit. § Ptoc. Zool. Soc., December 6, 1870. 
