Viscera. Sex: Male. Collected by: London Zoological Society. In Royal College of Surgeons of England, London, United Kingdom.
Viscera. Sex: Male. Collected by: London Zoological Society. In Royal College of Surgeons of England, London, United Kingdom.
Rhinoceros unicornis, male Jim in London Zoo. Caecum. This organ is lined by a voluminous mucous membrane, separated from the muscular wall by an extremely loose submucosa and thus easily thrown into transient folds. The mucous membrane consists, as usual in this part of the gut, of an even and close-set series of Crypts of Lieberkuhn. They are 0.25 mm long, and about half as long as in the caecum of the horse.
Rhinoceros unicornis, male Jim in London Zoo. Larynx. The epiglottis is intranarial. The outer walls of the ventricles and lateral pouches are covered by gland tissue. The two folds of mucous membrane that run upwards, outwards, and backwards from the anterior attachment of the vocal cords and form the anterior lips of the ventricles, are strongly developed. They are more marked in Sumatran Rhino but absent from tapir and horse. Above the anterior point of union of the vocal cords is a vertical indentation of the mucous membrane of the epiglottis. In this position in the horse and ass there is a definite median saccus.
Rhinoceros unicornis, male Jim in London Zoo. Stomach. A section showing the line of demarcation between the cardiac and glandular regions. The epithelium of the cardiac region, as in other Perissodactyla, is similar to that of the oesophagus - a stratified epithelium with easily separable corneous superficial layer. The deeper parts of the epithelium project into the submucosa in the form of elongated papillae. These are peculiarly long and resemble very closely those in the oesophagus of the horse. A microscopic section taken from the glandular region of the stomach, 1 ft. in front of the limit of the lower parts of the cardiac region, shows a deep layer (6 mm) of peptic glands. The gland-tublules were about 0.04 mm in diameter. A section taken about 1 ft. 6 in. in front of the last, from the pyloric dilatation, shows a layer of pyloric glands 2 mm thick. The gland-tubules have about twice the diameter of those of the peptic glands, but are far shorter and more branched. They are separated into groups of various size by septa running up from the submucosa.
Rhinoceros unicornis, male Jim in London Zoo. Bladder and Urethra. The seminal vesicles and prostate are more complex than one would be led to suppose from Owen's description and figure. When fully dissected out, the seminal vesicles can be resolved into a number of convoluted tubes, that converge towards the neck of the bladder and unite to form a common pair of ducts which open into the vasa deferentia shortly before their entry into the urethra. This condition is similar to that described by Forbes in Sumatran rhino, but very different to the arrangement seen in the Javan rhino by Beddard and Treves, where the seminal vesicles and prostate are quite simple and compact, morte nearly resembling the same organs in the tapir. The prostate is larger and more branched than represented by Owen. There was a well marked uterus masculinus, not noted by Owen.
Rhinoceros unicornis, male Jim in London Zoo. Duodenum. A portion, taken about 1 ft 6 in. from the stomach, showing the papilliform valvulae conniventes. Microscopic sections show that the papilliform processes are covered with villi. The interior of each process contained a number of follicles belonging to Brunner's glands. The ducts from these open upon the surface of the process between the villi. Brunner's glands were only observed within the papilliform processes, and not in the general submucosa of the intestinal wall. With haematoxyumlin they stained a vivid blue, in marked contrast to the pinkish purple of the surrounding tissue. Gervais, who describes the histology of the small intestine [1875], makes no mention of Brunner's glands, probably his sections were taken from a point further down the intestine below the level of these glands. He, however, speaks of Crypts of Lieberkuhn lying between the papilliform processes. These were not seen in the present sections.
Rhinoceros unicornis, male Jim in London Zoo. The Parathyroid body. The external appearance and position accurately given by Owen. In histological structure it conforms to Welsh's type 4, consisting of small cells clustered so as to form globular alveoli. In some parts the masses of cells apparently do not surround a lumen, and in these places there is more resemblance to Welsh's type 3. The individual alveoli and cell-masses are separated from one another by a delicate pacling of connective tissue.
Rhinoceros unicornis, male Jim in London Zoo. Kidney. Except at the hylus, the kidney is not lobulated. Thickenings of the capsule along certain anastomosing lines give it, however, superficially a lobulated appearance. In the entire absence of any pyramids projecting into the pelvis there is more resemblance to the tapir than to the horse.
