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Show 236 ON THE GULAR POUCH OF RHINODERMA DARWINI. [Apr. 1 7, least advanced lay (as in Espada's example) at the base of the sac (cf. fig. 2). The largest larva measured 8 m m . from snout to vent, 5 m m . across the trunk at its widest part. None were young enough to show the remotest vestiges of external gills, had such existed1. Espada found in one instance 15 young in the pouch. These were apparently in a somewhat similar condition to those of m y own specimen ; concerning the parent, he writes (Spengel, p. 499), " Die Eingeweide nahmem einen unglaublich kleinen (inverosimil \) Raum ein bei genauerer Betrachtung stellte sich das Phanomen nicht als eine mechanische Wirkung [of the enlargement of the sac] dar, sondern als eine Riickbildung, ein Schrumpfen dieser Eingeweide, Longitudinal section of Rhinoderma darwini entire, taken to one side of the middle line after removal of the embryos; to show the general relations and sectional area of the gular brood-sac {s.g). bl, urinary bladder ; h, heart; I.s', dorsal subcutaneous lymph-sinus; a, oesophagus; sh, shoulder-girdle. welche wie abgezehrt erschienen. Das Thier muss ohne Zweifel, so lange seine Jungen in dem Brutraume sind, zum grossen Theil seine Ernahrungsfunctionen einstellen, wenn auch nicht vollstandig, wie bei den Winterschlafern." I accordingly examined, with no little interest, the condition of the parts in m y specimen ; and this with unexpected results. The small intestine (i.s, fig. 3) was perfectly normal and full of food-material in an assimilable condition, while the large intestine (i.l) was fully charged with excreta like that of a normal individual. The stomach (st, fig. 5) was much distended by small Beetles and Diptera; and, but that the liver (h.p, fig. 3) was shrunken and displaced, and that the gall-bladder had collapsed, the alimentary viscera were those of a healthy animal in full diet. If Espada's final deduction were correct, we might fairly expect to find the fat-body in an insignificant condition 2. This was, on 1 Espada failed to find traces of these in still younger larvaj. 2 Cf. Knappe, " Das Bidder'sche Organ," Morph. Jahrb. vol. xi. (1886). |
