544 
DE. A. GrtiNTHEE’S DESCEIPTION OP CEEATODUS. 
left somewhat more forward. The part which must be regarded as the stomach ( f ) is 
short, in its posterior portion much wider than the oesophagus, and nearly as wide as the 
succeeding part of the intestine. It has very thin walls, without folds or crypts. Its 
end is indicated by a double circular fold(^) of the mucous membrane, each fold being 
about three lines broad {pylorus). On the right side of the stomach, below the extremely 
thin mucous membrane and the pad of fat mentioned above, there is an extensive rather 
thin layer of a very soft substance of brownish-black colour (m). Water or any other 
substance coming into contact with it is coloured brown. This organ descends below the 
pylorus, and is continued for some distance along the axis of the spiral valve. I am 
inclined to regard it as a spleen ; it has no communication with the inside of the 
intestine'*. 
The intestine is traversed throughout by a spiral valve, which performs nine gyrations. 
The extent of the intestine traversed by the first turn is the greatest, measuring about 
4 inches ; the second is much shorter, and the following are of nearly the same length 
as the second ; the last two or three are again lengthened. The valve retains its spiral 
course nearly to its end, which is close to the vent. 
The part below the pylorus receives the contents of the gall-bladder — the mouth of the 
ductus choledochus (e 1 ) being on the right side of the ventral surface of the intestine, at 
a short distance below the pyloric valve. The mucous membrane of this portion of the 
intestine (l) is finely wrinkled, the folds having an obliquely transverse direction parallel 
to the pyloric valve. The ventral wall is much thicker than the dorsal ; and numerous 
fiat glands ( q , q') are imbedded between its membranes. These glands are either simple 
follicles without opening, or much larger, composed of a homogeneous firm substance, 
and with a small opening which leads into a short simple or bifurcate duct. The mucosa 
of the remainder of the intestine is smooth ; but glands are scattered over all parts, dis- 
appearing only within the last two or three gyrations. In their most simple form they 
are flat, circular or ovate bodies of from 1 to 3 millims. diameter ; many have an 
evenly convex surface ; in others the membrane over the centre is sunk in, as if this part 
of the follicle had been filled with a fluid which has now disappeared ; in a third kind 
the membrane in the centre is actually perforated by a more or less wide opening. Some 
of these follicles are isolated, in other places two or more are aggregated and more or 
less confluent. Beside these glands other much larger and thicker ones are placed along 
or near to the axis of the spiral valve, the largest being within the third and fourth 
gyrations, where some are more than an inch long, half an inch broad, and about two 
lines thick. Each of these large glands has several depressed points or openings on its 
surface, leading into two or three short ducts. These glands are much thicker than the 
spiral valve in which they are imbedded; consequently some of them project over both 
the anterior and posterior surfaces of the valve, so that one and the same gland discharges 
its contents towards two surfaces, or, in other words, into two adjoining compartments of 
the intestinal spire. 
* Hyktl, who appears to have found a similar organ in Lepidosiren and the Sterlet , has come to the conclusion 
that it is a rete mirabile. 
