1896.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 313 



In the Scincidse, as in other families, in the serpen tiforra types the 

 liver and stomach occupy a position caudad to the lungs, and so the 

 latter do not appear in the mesenteric connections of the former, e. g, 

 Siaphiis. The mesenteries are the usual ones, but one peculiarity is 

 very frequent though not universal in the family. The hepato- 

 ventral sheet is generally divided into two, a right and left sheet 

 next the liver, forming a pocket which opens caudad. In the 

 Tiliqiia sdncoides the two sheets only unite at the cephalic end of 

 the liver, remaining separate throughout. 



In the Anniellidse the viscera display the following characters. 

 The left lung is much smaller than the right lung and is proximally 

 fused with it, so that there is but a single lumen. Right lung much 

 enlarged and covering the alimentary canal below (ventrad). Liver 

 considerably posterior to heart, long and narrow, with a small left 

 lobe and a long right lobe extending to the reproductive cells. Gall 

 bladder enclosed by the liver and exposed inferiorly, i. e., occupying 

 a foramen as in the Diploglossa. Alimentary canal distinguished 

 into stomach, and a small and large intestine, without distinct colon. 

 IStomach without curvature ; small intestine moderately plicated, 

 with lacertiform mesentery. Reproductive cells anterior, symmet- 

 rical ; kidneys symmetrical, posterior. There is a single gastro- 

 hepatic mesentery from the middle line of the. liver, and no right 

 hepatic or lateral hepatics. Hepatoventral simple ; plates of epi- 

 gastric very loosely attached together. No pulmonaries at middle 

 of liver. 



The fusion of the lungs is a peculiarity that I have not noticed 

 elsewhere among the Sauria. The left lung is Irke a diverticulum of 

 the right, and posterior to the point of divergence from the latter is 

 bound to it by connective tissue to the extremity. This fusion is a 

 step nearer to obliteration than occurs in any of the serpentiform 

 genera of Teidse, Scincidse or Anguidoe, where, though of reduced 

 size, it is distinct from the right except at its proximal extremity. 



In the Amphisbeenidse, as the left lung only is present in this 

 family, there is but one gastropulmonary mesentery. The liver has 

 a crescentic cross-section, and it is supported by two gastrohepatic 

 mesenteries (A7nphisbcena alba and A. fuliginosa), or by only one, 

 and a right hepatic or hepatolateral, as it may be : {Rhineura florid- 

 ana). There is but one hepatoventral. The last described structure 

 also characterizes Euchiroies diporus. 

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