Pleu`ro*per`i*to*ne"um (?), n. [Pleuro- + peritoneum.] Anat.

The pleural and peritoneal membranes, or the membrane lining the body cavity and covering the surface of the inclosed viscera; the peritoneum; -- used especially in the case of those animals in which the body cavity is not divided.

Peritoneum is now often used in the sense of pleuroperitoneum, the pleurae being regarded as a part of the peritoneum, when the body cavity is undivided.

 

© Webster 1913.

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