1896.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 461 



ON THE HEMIPENES OF THE SATJRIA. 

 BY E. D. COPE. 



In the course of preparation of a work on the scaled reptiles of 

 North America for the Smithsonian Institution, it has become nec- 

 essary to examine some neglected parts of the anatomy. This I 

 have recently done for the hemi penes of the Ophidia, with results 

 of considerable importance to the systematic indications.^ In the 

 present paper I give the results of a similar investigation into the 

 corresponding part of the anatomy of the lizards. Very little at- 

 tention has been given to the subject hitherto, and our knowledge 

 up to 1856' is thus summarized by Stannius: "A duplication or 

 bifurcation of each organ is present in Lacerta and in Platijdactylus 

 guttatus. The copulatory organs of the Chamaeleonidte are distin- 

 guished by their shortness. In various Varanidae which have been 

 investigated the internal cavity (external when protruded) has 

 transverse concentric folds. A fissure interrupts these folds so that 

 they are not complete annuli. The extremity is acuminate and ex- 

 pands at the base, forming a kind of glans." 



In 1870^ J. E. Gray describes and figures this organ of Vuramis 

 heraldicus, giving the best illustration that I know of. Besides 

 these references I know of nothing later. 



As was to have been anticipated, I have found these organs to 

 correspond with the rest of the structure, and to furnish invaluable 

 aids to the determination of affinities among the Sauria. Reference 

 to them cannot be omitted henceforth in cases where the other 

 characters render the question of affinity uncertain. 



In the Sauria the male intromittent organ or hemipenis, presents 

 much variety of structure, showing some parallels to the correspond- 

 ing part in the snakes. It is, however, rarely spinous, as is so gen- 

 erally the case in the Ophidia, the only spinous forms being, so far 

 as I have examined, the American Diploglossinge and genera allied 

 to Cophias. The higher Sauria have the apical parts modified as 



1 Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 1895, p. 187. 



^ Zootomie der Amphibien, p. 266. 



» Annals Magaz. ^^at. History, 1870, VII, p. 283. 



