126
THE
OF FIS—HES
groups, some species have only one or two, whilst in the
'
Gadoids and ScOmbroids there may be over a hundred.
With regard to the function of these organs, the liver as
usual is mainly a storehouse of sugar and fats.
The bile is
not an active agent in digestion in itself, but it appears to
'
:
stimulate the other glands. Recently it has been discovered,
that the strengthening powers of the oil pressed fr0m the
liVer of the Cod depends in some way on the presence of the
accessory vitamines, which though unseen are able to
inuence digestion. The pancreas secretes Certain ferments
and lipase) which are able to turn starch into
sugar and fats into fatty acids. By itself the pancreatic
juice has little power to digest proteid substances (Sellier,
'
1902), butrequires the assistance of the other juices, particularly from the intestine (spiral valVe in Elasmobranchs,
'
pfyloric… c_æca:in Teleosts)_ and even the spleen.
'
The bile- Sometimes increases, sometimes diminishes the
activity of the
.
The pyloric appendages may be simply ab‘SOrbin‘g organs
.
in some cases (Krukénberg, 1877), but —in others—
,
ferments of
,
the pancreas seem to be present (Stirling);
.
PoSsibly the diiculty of separating the scattered elements
of the pancreas from the other Organs may have aected the
'
last—mentioned result.
The thin intestine is mainly an
'
absorbing area and for this purpose the;mucousmembra‘ne
‘
is‘developed into folds or_ ridgesandaeven CryptsÏ.ii IrifsOme
,
; ,
cases, howeVer,—the
18 the fprinCipalÿ'seatiof _, -
_
…
f_
.
,,
‘
'
this 5
came” to the
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that i _ "shes *in their
'
,
'of evolution from
' _
'
.
_
?
Ï
.»
,;3; As
diversity of the digestive
—
system
“in shes
mentioned, that attempts .to
”
'
correlate the dierehces with'one another and with—the nature
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of.
Îf00d
life, have so far been quite ’
,
Unconvincing.
pyloriccæca of the Teledsts have been
;
; compared to the
valve of the ElasmobraCh$ and
'
Ï certainly mean an increase of the absorptive area, but the
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