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Show 692 DR. E. CRISP O N T H E HIPPOPOTAMUS. [June 27, both as regards shape and the arrangement of the valves and rugae, differs materially from the stomach of the Hippopotamus, which has a greater resemblance, in the distribution and form of the villi and in the appearance of the fourth cavity, to the villi and the stomach of a ruminant; indeed, looking to the mechanical arrangement of the muscular valves in the first three stomachs, it may naturally be asked does this animal ruminate 1 Another important peculiarity in the Hippopotamus is the absence of a caecum, the animal in this respect differing from the other pachyderms. As is well known, this cavity in the Elephant, Tapir, Horse, Zebra, Quagga, and Rhinoceros is very large, whilst in the Pigs it is of moderate size. In the little Hyrax it is very capacious, with two additional appendices towards the rectum. The villi, intestinal folds, and glands differ also materially from those of the other members of this family. The long villi and folds in the intestines of the Rhinoceros, the mucous folds in the stomach and small intestines of the Elephant, the rugous caecum of the Tapirs, and many other peculiarities and differences might readily be pointed out. I may here remark (and I speak from numerous and extensive examinations) that in the various orders of mammals none of them, as regards their visceral anatomy, have so great a general resemblance to each other as the ruminants. Length of the intestinal canal.-All the pachyderms have a long alimentary tube, as will be seen by the following table of animals in which I have measured it:- feet. in. Male Asiatic Elephant* : 106 0 Female Asiatic Elephant 123 0 Common Hog (Sus scrofa) 86 0 Wart Hog (Phacochcerus cethiopicus) .... 36 4 JElian's Hog (P. eeliani) 29 8 Red River-Hog (Potamochcerus), about the same length. Masked Hog (Sus larvatus), young 29 2 Japanese Hog (S. japonensis) 50 7 Barbary Hog 49 6 Peccary, Collared (Dicotyles torquatus) .. 31 0 Peccary, White-lipped (I). labiatus) 28 0 Hyrax (Hyrax capensis) 12 6 Tapir (Tapirus americanus) 72 0 Tapir 62 0 Dray Horse, old 108 0 Blood Mare, old 94 0 Zebra (Equus zebra) 67 0 According to Professor Owen the length of the alimentary canal of the Rhinoceros dissected by him was, in the female 73 feet, in the male 96 feet (Trans. 1862). * In the article " Pachydermata," in ' Todd's Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology,' p. 871, the prodigious extent of the intestinal canal of an Elephant seventeen years of age is said to be 58 feet 6 inches. |