131 



" The palate was smooth, with slight transverse ruga ; the pha- 

 rynx wide, simply membranous, and capable of great extension; 

 the tongue a smooth cartilaginous point, at the base of which the 

 larynx opened by a very small simple rima. There was no epiglottis; 

 but around the rima a slight fold of the membrane was just percep- 

 tible. The larynx crossing before the pharynx dipped down on the 

 left side of the neck, and passing under the left clavicle, divided into 

 two great branches, at about afoot from the rima : the right branch 

 passed before the oesophagus, and immediately entered the right lobe 

 of the lungs -, the left passed under the cardiac portion of the sto- 

 mach to the left lobe. 



" The lungs consisted of two large and equal lobes, distinct, flat, 

 and dark red, extending from the upper edge of the carapace as far 

 as the pelvis, but not as in the Land Tortoises (the Indian and Greek, 

 for example) attached to the whole inner surface of the shell ; their 

 attachment was by one of their edges only to the vertebral column, 

 and slightly to the liver. Their texture was firm, and their cells, 

 though large, were not so irregular as in the Testudo Grctca. 



" Between the lungs passed two singular muscles, retractors of 

 the head, long and slender, which arising one on each side by a ten- 

 dinous origin from the base of the cranium passed on each side of 

 the neck, and coming in contact below its great curve, ran together 

 down the vertebral column, and were inserted into its sides in the 

 spaces between the 6th and 7th and 7th and 8th ribs, each by two 

 distinct fleshy terminations. 



'* The difference exhibited by this animal in the attachments and 

 conformation of the lungs from the family of Tortoises in general 

 indicates an approach, not merely in external configuration, but in 

 internal structure, to the Alligators. Nor, although it must be con- 

 fessed in a degree less striking, is this approach unevideneed by the 

 structure of the urinary organs ; the bladder in this species although 

 double is yet small, while its enormous volume in the Tortoises in 

 general is a singular feature in their construction : the diminution 

 of volume in this organ seems to afford another indication, not to be 

 overlooked, of an approach to the Saurian Reptiles. 



" The posterior nares opened by two distinct orifices one quarter 

 of an inch from the commencement of the palate and three quarters 

 from the point of the beak : their course was obliquely upwards, 

 and the length of each canal to the external orifice just 1 inch. 



" The oshyoides consisted of an irregularly shaped body and four 

 arched bones or processes united to it by cartilage ; from the ante- 

 rior part of the body a spinous process partly cartilaginous proceeded 

 to support the rudiment of a tongue. The anterior pair of arched 

 bones were connected to the base of the skull by muscles only ; 

 the second pair terminated in a broad and flat extremity, and were 

 more abruptly curved j their use seems especially to support the 

 pharynx, and they were not connected to the skull. The first pair 

 were each 4 inches in length ; the second little more than 3 inches. 

 The rings of the larynx were perfect ; the length of the laryngeal 

 branches 3 inches." 



