IX. The development of the pancreas, the pancreatic and hepatic ducts, inTrichosurus vulpecula

Abstract

Hitherto no detailed account of the development of the alimentary canal and its associated glands in the Marsupialia has been published. The present paper is the result of an investigation into the development of these structures, in so far as concerns the pancreas, the pancreatic and hepatic ducts inTrichosurus. The material examined belongs to Professor Hill’s collection of Marsupials. The embryonic stages are those employed by Fraser and Hill in their paper on the “Development of the Thymus, Epithelial Bodies and Thyroid in the Marsupialia,” but a considerably larger number of pouch-foetuses was available for examination. The series ranges from the embryo of greatest length (G. L.) 5 mm. to the pouchfœtus of greatest length 5·2 cm., head length (H. L.) 19·5 mm., and comprises in all twenty-two stages, of which fifteen are embryonic and seven are pouch-young. Reference has also been made to two adult specimens.