64 



" The plastron being removed, the viscus which first attracted 

 notice was the liver, of large dimensions, stretching across from side 

 to side, and quite covering the stomach. Its structure was very 

 firm, and its colour a dull ochre. It consisted of two lobes, both 

 deeply fissured. In the cleft of the right lobe was situated the gall- 

 bladder, of the size of a large nut, and containing green bile. The 

 cystic and hepatic ducts united, and entered the duodenum 1 J inch 

 below the pylorus. 



"On the liver being turned aside, the stomach presented itself; its 

 coats were firm and thick, especially in the pyloric portion, which 

 was produced long and narrow to the extent of 3^ inches ; the 

 total length of the stomach was 6| inches. 



" The small intestines, remarkable also for their firmness, mea- 

 sured 2 feet 8 inches in length, and terminated in large intestines 

 very little exceeding them in circumference. In the Testudo In- 

 dica lately dissected, there was no caecum; but in the present 

 species the caecum existed ; its form was globular. On the left side 

 the large intestine assumed a sigmoid flexure with a bold sweeping 

 fold, and then took on a straight and short course to the cloaca ; 

 the length of the large intestines was 1 foot 8 inches. They con- 

 tained faeculent matter in small quantity, consisting of fibrous vege- 

 table substance. There were no longitudinal bands. 



M The cloaca, into which opened the bladder and oviducts, was 

 in length 2 or 3 inches. The bladder in the present instance 

 did not exhibit that immense volume which was so remarkable in 

 the Test. Indica : it was of a moderate size ; both in this respect and 

 in figure resembling a pear. It was united to the sides of the upper 

 shell by a broad peritoneal ligament, and was connected also to the 

 pelvis by several fibrous bands. Its coats were extremely thin and 

 fibrous ; and it contained a small quantity of thick fluid. 



" The oviducts were before their opening into the cloaca united 

 for a considerable distance, and were there thick and firm, becoming 

 gradually thinner as they proceeded upwards, their course being in 

 an indefinite convoluted manner. Throughout the greatest part of 

 their length there ran a number of longitudinal folds, which became 

 fainter, and were at length obliterated as the oviducts proceeded. 



M The ovaries contained a multitude of eggs of various sizes, and 

 of a round figure ; fifty of them at least were nearly as large as a 

 pigeon's egg : they were not covered with a shell, and were filled 

 with a thick yellow yelk. 



" The kidneys laid upon the lungs (which extended over the 

 carapace), to which they adhered; their figure was somewhat 3-sided, 

 from a broad flat base, with a rounded apex : their length was 2\ 

 inches. Their surface was convoluted in a very singular manner, 

 the folds being divisible, producing an appearance not unlike that 

 of the cerebellum, which they also resembled in colour. 



M On the mesocolon and near the intestine was situated an oval 

 glandular body of a dark colour, and of the size of a sparrow's egg, 

 containing white gritty specks. From this, which I suspected to 

 be the spleen, a large vein proceeded along the mesentery, and uni- 



