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Show 1882.] MR. W. N. PARKER ON THE INDIAN TAPIR. 771 The right and left central lobes were only partially separated from one another, the umbilical fissure extending only a short way down on the anterior side. The margin of the left central lobe presented several small notches towards its right side. Both right and left lateral lobes were large ; and there was a considerable caudate lobe, projecting from the outer side of which there was a small leaf-like minor lobe. There was no lobus Spigelii; in Dr. Murie's figure a large one is shown, but no caudate; he states that a small lobule lying on the vena cava might represent the latter. There is no gall-bladder ; and the bile-duct opens on a papilla into the duodenum about 3 inches from the pylorus. A separate pancreatic duct opens about 3| inches further back. The spleen is elongated and flattened ; it measured 1 foot long, and about 4 inches broad in the widest part. It has usually been stated that the intestinal canal is much shorter in the American than in the Indian Tapir; but the measurements given by different anatomists vary so much that it is impossible to make any very definite statements on the subject. Murie gives a table comparing the measurements by himself, Home, Poelman, Owen, and Turner *; and maintains that the length of the alimentary canal depends quite as much on age, sex, &c. as on mere specific distinction. Adding to these measurements those by Yarrell2, Cantor, and myself3, they give the following results:-In both species the intestine is longer in the adult male than in the adult female, but longer in the latter than in the young male. It is longer in the adult male Indian Tapir than in the adult male American, but longer in the latter than in the female Indian. But, on the other hand, there is a difference of over 20 feet between Home's and Poelman's measurements in adult Indian males; and this seems to show that the intestinal length varies so greatly as to be of comparatively little importance as a specific distinction. Well-marked valvuli conuiventes, about f- inch apart, and covered with close-set villi, extend through about the first 18 feet of the small intestine, after which they gradually fade off, the mucous membrane of the rest of the ileum being smooth. The distribution of these valvulae differs very much from what occurs in T. americanus, in which Owen states that they only extend 4 or 5 inches from the pylorus. Peyer's patches were numerous but small, some reaching to 1 inch in length, but the average size being about ^ inch. The caecum (fig. 3, p. 772) resembles that of the Rhinoceros. Three muscular bands extend down it; and between these it is sacculated. The colon, which is sacculated on either side of two muscular bands, forms a loop, and then passes insensibly into the rectum, which nearly resembles it in structure. The mucous membrane of the 1 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1850, p. 102. . » " Observations on the Tapir of America," Zool. Journal, vol. iv. 1828, p. 210. ;i The small intestine was 40 feet 9 inches long, the large intestine 5 feet 6 inches, and the caecum 10 inches, measuring from the apex to the entrance of the ileum. |