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Show 18 DR. E. LONNBERG ON DIGESTIVE [Jan. 14, not represented in the figure.) The caecum of Pseudochirus is a good deal larger than that of Trichosurus, as the above-recorded comparative measurements indicate, and offers also quite another aspect (compare figures). It is provided with two very strong taeniae, which continue to the blind end of the caecum. These taeniae have an average breadth of 3 m m . and extend one on each side. By means of these taeniae and the mesentery the wall of the caecum is folded so that it forms three series of sacculi. Text-fig. 5. Cajcum of Pseudochirus occidental is. Nat. size. c, colon; i., ileum ; v.c.c, ca?co-colic valve; v.i.c, ileo-ca?cal valve. Through this the effectiveness of the caecum as a digesting organ is greatly increased, the more so as the depth of the pockets is comparatively great. The end of the caecum in this animal is bluntly rounded, and thus different from that of Trichosurus The first part of the colon is longitudinally plicated but the plica- are not strongly developed and soon disappear. |