A renal portal system is usually present, but is singularly variable in the source of its tributary veins, even in closely allied forms.[362] In the Sturgeon (_Acipenser_) and in some Teleosts, as in the Siluroid, _Amiurus catus_, it resembles that of Elasmobranchs. In other Teleosts, on the contrary, the renal portal system presents various grades of degeneration, or, possibly, of imperfect evolution, as will be seen from the following illustrations of its condition in different genera. In _Amiurus_ the caudal vein, after giving off right and left renal portal veins to the renal capillaries, emerges from the ventral surface of the kidneys, and is then continued forwards between the gonads, the veins from which it receives, as the radicle of the hepatic portal vein. In the Eel (_Anguilla vulgaris_) the caudal vein (Fig. 188) traverses the fused hinder portions of the kidneys, receiving several segmental veins from the body-wall and also giving off from each side numerous renal portal branches. More anteriorly, where the two kidneys become distinct, the caudal vein also divides into two renal portal veins and, as each vein extends {320}forwards along the outer border of the kidney of its side, it receives a number of segmental veins, and, at the same time, gives off branches to the renal capillaries. In addition, each renal portal vein is connected with the hepatic portal vein by a series of singular arch-like vessels into which the ovarian or spermatic veins open. It is obvious, therefore, that in both _Amiurus_ and _Anguilla_ the primitive direct continuity of the caudal and posterior cardinal veins has been interrupted by the formation of a well-developed renal portal system, and further, that the residue of the caudal venous blood finds its way to the liver through the hepatic portal vein; hence it follows that, as in so many of the lower air-breathing Vertebrates, the whole of the venous blood from the tail is distributed either to the kidneys or liver in the course of its return journey to the heart. The Tench (_Tinca vulgaris_) exhibits the interesting anomaly of possessing two caudal veins, a dorsal and a ventral (Fig. 189). The dorsal vein is directly continuous with the right posterior cardinal, while the ventral one divides into three branches, two forming right and left renal portal veins and receiving numerous segmental veins, and the third becoming one of the affluents of the hepatic portal vein. In this Teleost it is clear that a portion of the caudal blood passes directly to the heart through the right posterior cardinal without traversing either the renal portal or hepatic portal system.