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Show 376 MR. GARROD ON NYCTEREUTES PROCYONIDES. [Mar. 19, out having any extension directly onwards to the anterior extremity of the hemisphere. There is scarcely any tendency in the second gyrus to form an antero-superior angle ; and the sulcus between gyri three and four is not quite parallel to the great longitudinal fissure, it diverging slightly from the middle line as it goes forward. In these respects the brain more resembles that of Canis vulpes1 than those of Canis familiar is or C. lupus. In the peritoneal cavity of the adult male Nyctereutes (which, like the half-grown female, had excessive atheroma of all its larger arteries) I found an immense number of parasitic worms, collected especially about the abdominal surface of the liver and the stomach. These worms had "heads" much like those of the Bothrio-cephali, but larger. M y friend Mr. F. G. Penrose has most kindly made sections of them, and has demonstrated the existence of a most peculiar cavity in each. This cavity is coiled up within the ovate "head ;" its lumen is small; and its walls are plicated very extensively, the magnitude as well as the number of the folds being great. It opens externally at its proximal extremity by one of its ends only. The " body " is taenioid in its proportions, and is not segmented. It is about two and a half inches in total length, the " head " being about the size of a hemp-seed or a little smaller. There are a few general remarks suggested by the above recorded facts. First, with reference to the colic caecum in the Canidae, I have on a previous occasion noticed the aberrant form of that appendage in Canis cancrivorus2, where it is nearly straight. Two other specimens of the species have since passed through my hands, which have been entirely confirmatory of m y earlier observation. In Nyctereutes procyonides the caecum is slightly more caniform than in C. cancrivorus; it is a little broader also. From the examination of other Canidae, I find that the caecum, in its twistings, resembles that of Canis familiaris in being turned about twice and a half upon itself in C. laniger, C. lagopus 3, C. anthus, C. fulvus, C. antarticus, C. azaree, Otocyon lalandii, and Lycaon pictus. In Canis aureus I have found the terminal twist wanting, the apex of the caecum turning down as in C. famelicus. In Canis cancrivorus and in Nyctereutes procyonides the caecum is nearly straight. Secondly, with reference to the brain, Prof. Flower has done much to condense and classify the facts to be arrived at from the study of the convolutions \ which latter, in m y estimation, throw much light upon the mutual affinities of the Fissiped Carnivora. It seems to me that the typical major convolutions of the Carnivorous brain form three complete and uniformly broad gyri round 1 Leuret and Gratiolet, loc. cit. pl. iv. fig. 2, Renard. 2 P. Z. S. 1873, p. 748. :i Vide Flower. "Hunterian Lectures," ' Medical Times and Gazette.' London, June 1st, 1872, p. 022. 4 P. Z. S. 1869, p. 482. |
