The venous channels which convey the blood back to the heart are so arranged that most of the blood passes first through the _gills_, for the purpose of respiration, before it reaches the heart and is again distributed through the body. These gills, as already mentioned, lie in the two branchial chambers under the side-flaps of the carapace (Fig. 7), and are attached, some to the epipodites of the thoracic limbs (as described above), and some to the soft membrane of the joints between the limbs and the body; while others are attached to the side-wall of the thorax itself. Each gill is somewhat like a bottle-brush in shape, consisting of a central stalk set round with rows of soft hair-like processes. As the blood streams through the minute channels inside these filaments, it is separated only by a thin membrane from the surrounding water, and the absorption of oxygen and discharge of carbon dioxide can go on easily. For this purpose, however, it is necessary that the water within the gill chamber should be constantly renewed, and this is effected in the following way: the front part of the gill chamber forms a narrow channel running forward under the side-wall of the carapace. Within this channel lies a large plate known as the _scaphognathite_, attached to the outer side of the maxilla, which during life is constantly in movement, causing a current of water to flow forwards through the channel. The water enters the gill chamber by the narrow slit-like space between the lower edge of the carapace and the bases of the legs, and is discharged in front at the sides of the head, where its movement is helped by the vibrating exopodites of the maxillipeds. At the sides of the stomach, in the front part of the head, lie a pair of glands which, from their colour, are known as the _green glands_. These are the excretory organs, corresponding in function to the kidneys of the higher animals. Each has connected with it a thin-walled bladder, which opens to the outside through a small perforation on the under-side of the first segment of the antenna.