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Show 1873.] OF THE SUMATRAN RHINOCEROS. 101 backwards and to the left, the colon is directed forwards and to the right; but it almost immediately gives rise to the very considerable colic loop, which is directed first transversely to the left, and continues on obliquely backwards, the anterior returning portion of which returns to the right hypochondriac region, where its mesentery is very incomplete, and it is firmly bound down to the adjacent parietes. The transverse colon, running from this point, is situated quite above the colic loop, and is also bound down at the left hypochondrium as at the right. The third part of the colon (the descending in man) is very sinuous in its course; it ends by a very simple sigmoid flexure, and is continued on as the capacious rectum. The caecum is 3 feet long, and of nearly the same diameter; it is pyriform in shape, and much like that of the Tapir, the blind end being the narrower. It is traversed by three longitudinal bands, between which it is folded in large sacculi. The colon springs from the anterior end of the caecum, and immediately makes a short sigmoid curve to the right. Its interior is lined with a smooth, simple, irregularly plicated epithelium, the folds of which are quite removed when the organ is distended. From the ileo-caecal valve to the anus is 16 feet; and in its broadest part the colon is 39 inches in circumference. It is peculiar that, as in the Horse and also in the Tapir, the tube is of very different diameters in its different parts, the bend of the colic loop being very narrow in comparison with its main parts. The proximal g of the colic loop is sacculated, and, at its middle, 13 inches in diameter; but at its bend, where it is situated in the left iliac fossa, it is much smaller, being only 6\ inches across, and not the least sacculated. It continues thus uniform on it surface, and gradually dilating for about 2\ feet till in the epigastric region it again becomes sacculated and very capacious, reaching a diameter of 16| inches. From this point it rapidly reduces in the transverse colon, remaining somewhat sacculated, with only one longitudinal band, which is at the mesenteric border, till at the sigmoid flexure the diameter is 6\ inches. The colic loop is just 5 feet long. There are no regular folds of the mucous membrane of the large intestine,. but many minor ones, which disappear when the tube is distended. The rectum is nearly 7 inches in diameter. This arrangement of the colon is different from that of the Horse in that the portion corresponding to the ascending colon is longer in the latter. In the Horse and Tapir the colic loop is formed from the transverse colon, in this Rhinoceros more from the right hypochondriac angle of that viscus. In the direction of the caecum, namely backwards and to the left, the Rhinoceros agrees with the Tapir and differs entirely from the Horse. The liver is not large, considering the size of the animal. It weighs slightly over 15 lb., is flattened, and has no gall-bladder. Adopting Prof. Flower's method of describing this organ, all the. main divisions are indicated, though most of the fissures are not deep. The left lateral lobe is the largest, and is overlapped by the left central along its median border. On the anterior surface |
