548 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
These veins from the alimentary canal are numerous and diffi¬ 
cult to count. All blood leaves the liver through the vena cava. 
These conditions are general for serpents. 
The Pancreas. 
The pancreas is large and creamy white in color. It is about 
a half inch long in large specimens and is a little longer than 
wide. It lies at the anterior end of the duodenum but is not 
attached to it except where the ducts pass from the pancreas to 
the intestine. In specimens that are well filled with eggs the 
pancreas is crowded up close to the liver but in males and fe¬ 
males without eggs it lies farther back. 
The fact that the veins from the parietes which enter the por¬ 
tal vein anterior to the pancreas run far forward from their 
origin in the body-wall in order to reach the portal vein anterior 
to the pancreas suggests that the pancreas once occupied a more 
posterior position. 
The Spleen. 
The spleen is of a dark red-brown or chocolate color. It is 
nearly spherical and attached to the anterior end of the pan¬ 
creas. It is not fastened to the intestine. 
The Fat Bodies. 
The two fat bodies of the abdomen extend caudally to a point 
about opposite the posterior ends of the kidneys. The right one 
extends caphalad to just beyond the gall bladder while the left 
reaches about one inch anterior to the caudal end of the liver 
in large specimens. 
Each body consists of a long, much folded strip of white, 
adipose tissue well supplied with blood vessels. 
The fat body of the neck is single and extends from the heart 
forward about half the distance to the head. It is a thick, solid 
mass of white adipose tissue. The posterior end is large and 
blunt, while the anterior end tapers to a point toward the head. 
During starvation the fat bodies may entirely disappear leav¬ 
ing only the blood vessels and connective tissues. 
