The last section of the alimentary canal, the large intestine, is at first in the embryo a very simple, short, and straight tube, which opens behind by the anus. It remains thus throughout life in the lower Vertebrates. But it grows considerably in the mammals, coils into various folds, and divides into two sections, the first and longer of which is the colon, and the second the rectum. At the beginning of the colon there is a valve (valvula Bauhini) that separates it from the small intestine. Immediately behind this there is a sac-like growth, which enlarges into the caecum (Figure 2.357 v). In the plant-eating mammals this is very large, but it is very small or completely atrophied in the flesh-eaters. In man, and most of the apes, only the first portion of the caecum is wide; the blind end-part of it is very narrow, and seems later to be merely a useless appendage of the former. This "vermiform appendage" is very interesting as a rudimentary organ. The only significance of it in man is that not infrequently a cherry-stone or some other hard and indigestible matter penetrates into its narrow cavity, and by setting up inflammation and suppuration causes the death of otherwise sound men. Teleology has great difficulty in giving a rational explanation of, and attributing to a beneficent Providence, this dreaded appendicitis. In our plant-eating ancestors this rudimentary organ was much larger and had a useful function. Finally, we have important appendages of the alimentary tube in the bladder and urethra, which belong to the alimentary system. These urinary organs, acting as reservoir and duct for the urine excreted by the kidneys, originate from the innermost part of the allantoic pedicle. In the Dipneusts and Amphibia, in which the allantoic sac first makes its appearance, it remains within the body-cavity, and functions entirely as bladder. But in all the Amniotes it grows far outside of the body-cavity of the embryo, and forms the large embryonic "primitive bladder," from which the placenta develops in the higher mammals. This is lost at birth. But the long stalk or pedicle of the allantois remains, and forms with its upper part the middle vesico-umbilical ligament, a rudimentary organ that goes in the shape of a solid string from the vertex of the bladder to the navel. The lowest part of the allantoic pedicle (or the "urachus") remains hollow, and forms the bladder. At first this opens into the last section of the gut in man as in the lower Vertebrates; thus there is a real cloaca, which takes off both urine and excrements. But among the mammals this cloaca is only permanent in the Monotremes, as it is in all the birds, reptiles, and amphibia. In all the other mammals (marsupials and placentals) a transverse partition is afterwards formed, and this separates the urogenital aperture in front from the anus-opening behind. (Cf. Chapters 2.22 and 2.29.) CHAPTER 2.28. EVOLUTION OF THE VASCULAR SYSTEM.