THE MORPHOLOGY OF THE INTESTINE OF THE INSECTIVOROUS HORSESHOE BAT (RHINOLOPHUS-HILDEBRANDTI, PETERS) - A SCANNING ELECTRON AND LIGHT-MICROSCOPIC STUDY

The gastrointestinal tract of the horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus hildebran dti (Peters), was studied macroscopically, with the light microscope a nd with the scanning electron microscope. Macroscopically, the stomach was of the simple type and the intestine was a short convoluted tube with an almost uniform diameter. A caecum, an appendix and a colon wer e absent, and the only portion of the large intestine observed was a s hort rectum which had a distinctly greater diameter than the rest of t he intestine. The proximal part of the intestine showed a brief 'honey comb' segment preceding the ridge-like transverse villi that occupied the rest of the foregut. In the region immediately proximal to the rec tum the villi joined in a geometrical pattern to form chambers resembl ing 'reticular cells' of the ruminant stomach. The villi were covered with a prominent columnar epithelium occasionally interrupted by goble t cells. Generally, the intestine of Rhinolophus resembles that of the other bats which have been studied, but showed structural details sug gestive of an increased surface area.