304 Zoological Collections. Vertebrata. 



serve to protect the pectoral organs; for instance, in fishes and frogs. 

 Notwithstanding that the dragons approximate to birds in their mode 

 of locomotion, they must not be placed nearer them than certain other 

 reptiles, — any more than the flying mammifera, in preference to others of 

 the same class. The alar ribs of dragons diminish from before backwards, 

 except the second, which is a little longer than the first, &c. Their 

 vertebral half is osseous, the other, cartilaginous ; the latter does not, as in 

 the green dragon, extend to the outer edge of the wings, but becomes thick, 

 and is bent against the rib immediately behind : this part may be considered 

 as representing the common costal cartilages, &c. Besides the muscles 

 which extend from the vertebrae to the false ribs, there are other smaller 

 ones in the interval of the two alar ribs. The author enters into the descrip- 

 tion of them with much detail. He examines the mechanism of flying of 

 this singular animal. The muscles of the belly are very simple : there are 

 two, a superficial and longitudinal, and a deep and transverse. As to the 

 apparatus of nutrition, there may be first remarked, the guttural pouch, 

 which ends in the oesophagus, the mucous membrane of which forms many 

 folds which terminate in the stomach. This pouch has been found filled with 

 flies and ants ; it is very analogous to the buccal sac of apes, as has already 

 been remarked by Tiedemann, and is not destined, as Cams thinks, merely 

 to receive air. M. Sebastian compares it more particularly to the gizzard 

 of diurnal birds of prey, or to the guttural sac of the Otis tarda. What is 

 chiefly remarkable in this pouch, is the black pigment which covers the'. , 

 outer surface of its muscular envelope, an analogous substance to which has' 

 been found by M. Vrolik, in the cameleon. It is to be remarked, says the 

 author, that the dragon which was dissected contained three eggs in each 

 oviduct, a circumstance which may be connected with the existence of this 

 particular pigment. It appears that there is a difference between the Draco 

 jfuscus and the D. viridis with regard to the termination of the intestinal 

 canal, and particularly with respect to the peculiarities of a coecum which 

 is found at a little distance from the anus. These considerations lead the 

 author to limit more correctly the division into great and small intestines.'': 

 Lastly, M. Sebastian announces the discovery of a free prolongation whicK^ 

 exists in the elbow joint, and that of a ring formed of cartilaginous platei^" 

 in the ocular apparatus. — Bull, des Sci. Nat. Oct. 1830. !'!" 



Lachrymal Capsule of the Geckos — M. Jean Muller, Professor at t^*^ 

 University of Bonn, to whom anatomy is indebted for many importaiir' 

 works, informs us, " that he has lately observed that the eye of the gecko is 

 provided anteriorly with the same lachrymal capsule as was described by Jules 

 Cloquet in serpents. The geckos are the only species among the Sauria which 

 have as yet been shewn to possess this character." — Ann. des Sci. Nat. 

 Dec. 1830. 



Jlf. Fohmann on the Distribution of the Absorbent Vessels. — Professor 

 Fohmann of Liege, whose labours occupy a prominent place in the recent 

 history of the absorbent system, (communicated to the Meeting of Naturalists 

 in Heidelberg, in 1829,) has been lately occupied in investigating the mode, 

 of origin, and distribution of the absorbent vessels, within the various tex- 

 tures and organs of the body. 



The researches of Professor Fohmann respecting the mode of termination 

 of the absorbent vessels, and their connection with the venous system, have 

 been some time known to the public. The following are the general results 

 of his inquiries into the condition of the absorbent system as it exists 

 within the diflferent textures and organs of the body : — 



1. The lymphatic vessels are present in much greater number, and have 

 a larger share in the composition of organs, than anatomists have hitherto 

 been inclined to admit. 



