Zoological Society. 375 



Among the Mollusca, six species of Doris have been described by 

 M. Lie"nard, sen., to one of which, regarded by him as new, he has 

 given the name of Dor. marginata. The same gentleman has also de- 

 scribed a Pleurobranchus. M. Lie"nard, jun. has described another 

 species of Dom, and has given a description of a Dolabella, with 

 an account of its anatomy. 



Such is a brief outline of the zoological labours of the Mauritius 

 Natural History Society, which within the short period of its exist- 

 ence has received no less than fifty memoirs, descriptions, and notices 

 on different branches of natural science. 



At the request of the Chairman, Mr. Martin read his notes of the 

 dissection of a specimen of the Testudo Indica, L,, which recently 

 died at the Society's Gardens. 



The animal was of large size, although considerably less than one 

 formerly in the possession of the Society, the dissection of which, 

 by Mr. Yarrell, has been published in the Zoological Journal. The 

 carapace or dorsal shell measured 2 feet 1 1 inches in length, and the 

 plastron or ventral shell 2 feet 4- inches. The breadth was 1 foot 

 9 inches. 



The length of the stomach was 2 feet ; the circumference in the 

 largest part 1 foot 3 inches ; its shape a flattened oval, contracting 

 gradually towards the pylorus. On opening it, the coats, and espe- 

 cially the middle or muscular, were found extremely thick and firm, 

 and increasing in thickness towards the pylorus, which protruded in 

 a singular manner, to the distance of nearly an inch into the duo- 

 denum, at which part a few longitudinal rugcc were observed, the 

 rest of the lining membrane being perfectly smooth. It contained 

 a little fluid only. The liver presented nothing remarkable ; it con- 

 sisted of two principal lobes, in the right of which the gall-bladder 

 was buried, so as just to show itself; the length of the gall-bladder 

 was 2 inches. 



The small intestines were thick and firm, their length being 3 feet 

 6 inches. The gall-duct enters the duodenum 3 inches, and the 

 pancreatic duct 10 inches, below the pyloric orifice. On laying open 

 the small intestines, their lining membrane appeared corrugated with 

 numerous longitudinal rugce, and they were found perfectly empty. 



The large intestines were smooth on their internal surface, and 

 filled with an immense mass of condensed vegetable matter, which 

 was green and fibrous, and appeared to have only partially under- 

 gone the process of digestion. In the colon near the entrance of the 

 small intestines were two or three small black patches, seemingly 

 gangrenous. There was no ccecum. The circumference of the colon 

 measured 9 inches. The length of the large intestines was 6 feet 

 8 inches, exclusive of the cloaca, which was 1 foot. 



At the lower part of the abdomen, (in a singular cavity, formed by 

 a diaphragm-like expansion of peritoneum, from which, to the oppo- 

 site or extreme side, passed numerous bands, bearing a resemblance 

 to the chorda tendine&,)the urinary bladder, of enormous capacity, was 

 lying loose, irregularly folded, but containing a considerable quan- 

 tity of viscid fluid : its parietes were thin, but very fibrous in texture. 



When 



