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Show 690 MR. J. W. CLARK ON DELPHINUS ALBIROSTRIS. [June 20, The oesophagus leads directly into a pyriform sac (A) about 7 inches deep. There was no sudden line of demarcation between the oesophageal and gastric mucous membranes; but that of the oesophagus seemed to be carried on into the gastric cavity, where it was disposed in irregular folds, which were thickened and twisted across the floor of the opening (a) into the second stomach (B). This is nearly spherical, 4 inches in diameter, and lined with very soft and delicate mucous membrane, puckered into wavy folds almost like the cells of a honeycomb in shape. At a distance of little more than half an inch from (a) a second opening (b) led into the third stomach (C), which is long and narrow*, with very thin walls, and returned upon itself so that the second portion, which is separated from the first by an incomplete septum, is nearly parallel to the first. It leads by an oval opening (d) into the long and narrow cavity (D), 7 inches in length, which communicates by an orifice scarcely wide enough to admit a large pin with the expanded duodenum (E). Into this the hepatic and pancreatic ducts open at the summit of a papilla, three inches from the above-mentioned orifice. Immediately beyond this the intestine proper commences. The rest of the viscera do not present any peculiarity. The brain was too soft to admit of examination. I may mention that I could find no trace of any parasites. The same peculiarity is mentioned by Prof. Van Beneden in his description of what I think must be an individual of the same species. The external characters of this animal show plainly that it must be referred to the genus Lagenorhynchus; and the number of its vertebrae and ribs, together with the condition of its cervical vertebrae, would determine it to be L. albirostris, were it not for the peculiarity of its colouring. This differs somewhat remarkably from the examples recorded by Dr. Brightwell, Prof. Van Beneden, and Mr. Moore. The first two of these descriptions have been so fully discussed by Dr. Cunningham that I need not allude further to them, except to mention that Dr. BrightweU's was a male, and Prof. Van Beneden's both females. All three were apparently adult. Mr. Moore's specimen was taken at the mouth of the Dee, Dec. 29, 1862. It was a male, 9 feet long, and therefore adult like the others. His description, which agrees fairly well with our specimen, is as follows :- "The general colour is a rich black. A long and narrow greyish streak extends on either side diagonally across the ribs ; and a similar greyish hue occurs on each side of the dorsal ridge, extending nearly from the fluke to the tail. The beak white, irregularly blotched with blackish, the white extending slightly above the constriction of the beak. The under jaw and throat milk-white, which colour extends along the belly, but becomes less clear as it approaches the vent"*. The descriptions agree in representing the whole of the underside of the body, the lower jaw, and the upper lip as white; and Van Beneden's figure shows a patch of light grey behind the eye. His figure, making allowance for age, might well serve for that of our * Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, vol. xi. p. 269 (J863). |
