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Show 132 MB. F. E. BEDDABD ON THE VISCERAL ANATOMY [Feb. 5, i When the animal was opened by a longitudinal incision through the abdominal walls a little to the left of the middle line, considerable traces of the ventral mesentery were apparent. From the bladder a fold of membrane arose, which was in parts at least an inch deep : this fold passed along the ventral body-wall about half- «way to the ribs, and gradually died away. Close to the ribs it was resuscitated for the space of about an inch; but this section pf the ventral mesentery was not continuous with the posterior section or with the falciform ligament in front. In all mammals (that I have examined) the bladder is attached to the parietes by a fold of membrane, which is, doubtless, so far the equivalent of the primitive ventral mesentery. But in no mammal, except Ornithorhynchus l, have I noticed this fold to extend so far forward as in the Marsupial which forms the subject of the present paper. I could not, however, discover the least trace of any blood-vessels in any part of it. It was completely anangious. § The Stomach and Intestines. The stomach in general appearance is very like that of the Kangaroo, but the cardiac cul-de-sac is not bifurcate, and the present species agrees in this with D. inustus, with Dorcopsis, and with Petrogale. In structure the stomach of the present species appears hardly to differ from that of D. inustus; but I a m able to give a somewhat fuller account than that given by Sir R. Owen, and I have thought it worth while to have a drawing (fig. 1) prepared of the interior of the organ. Fig. 1. Stomach of Dendrolagus, with the interior displayed. o, oesophageal orifice ; gl, glandular patches. The stomach is sacculated by two principal bands, which run laterally; but there are also others. At the cardiac extremity 1 " O n some Points in the Visceral Anatomy of Ornithorhynchus " P Z S 1894, p. 715. |
