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Show 1867.] MR. W. H. FLOWER ON HYOMOSCHUS AQUATICUS. 957 the great antero-posterior breadth of the bas*e of the arytenoid cartilages and their distance apart, the vocal cords are placed nearly vertically in the sides of the larynx, and thrown unusually far from its posterior wall, so that when they are brought into contact a cylindrical tubular air-passage remains open behind them, but the communication between that passage and the thyroid pouch is shut off. These cords are exactly 1 inch in length, and tolerably prominent. There are no lateral membranous pouches or sacs connected with the larynx. Knowing little of the habits of the animal during life, I am unable to throw any light upon the mode in which this singular modification of the vocal organ is related to its economy. Each lung consists of a single lobe, of general triangular form, with a flattened tongue-shaped projection arching forwards from the apex. This projecting lobule is much larger on the right side than ou the left, and has a distinct bronchial branch from the trachea, given off ^ inch above the bifurcation, wanting on the left side. The right lung has, moreover, a small accessory lobule projecting forwards from the internal border just below the root of the lung. The lungs thus conform in the general principle of their construction with those of Tragulus javanicus; but in the latter they are rather more subdivided by notches, and the upper and lower accessory lobules of the right lung are relatively larger and more distinct. The heart presents nothing unusual: the great vessels arise from the arch of the aorta as in Tragulus: viz., the first, nearly | inch long, gives off the right subclavian, and then divides into the right and left common carotid; the second branch, arising close to the last, is the left subclavian. The stomach (fig. 2, p. 958) consists of three principal compartments, as in Tragulus. The oesophagus (a) opens directly into the middle compartment or reticulum (c), which is a pyriform or egg-shaped sac, with the small, obtusely pointed end turned forwards and to right. When moderately distended it is 4 inches long and 2| inches wide at the base. The honeycomb-like reticulations are distinctly seen all over this compartment, from the exterior, as faint white lines forming hexagons, very much larger at the pointed free end than near the base. The broad end or base is directly continuous with the rumen (b), being only marked off from it by a slight constriction. The last-named cavity is a long caecal pouch, having a sigmoid flexure, and being partially divided, by constrictions at the concavities of the bends, into three compartments. Its greatest length (in this folded state) is 9 inches, f inch to the right of the entrance of the oesophagus the true digestive stomach or abomasus (e) commences by a very constricted tube not more than -L inch in diameter. This speedily dilates into an elongated tubular sac, largest near its proximal end, and gradually narrowing towards the pylorus. In its natural state this stomach is sharply curved upon itself, and puckered at its upper border or lesser curvature; but when the membranes are detached this curvature and all the foldings disappear, |
