1890.] HELODERMA SUSPECTUM. 199 



ryngeal portion it is capacious, but it gradually narrows as it proceeds 

 backwards, so that it becomes of very much diminished calibre 

 before arriving at the cardiac extremity of the stomach, where its 

 coats are markedly strong and thick. All the internal membranal 

 lining of the mouth, the pharynx, and the oesophageal tube, down as 

 far as a point opposite the base of the heart, is normally, in the living 

 Helodenna, of a deep black colour, due to an abundant deposit of 

 pigment in the mucous coat lining the parts in question. Below 

 this, however, such colouring entirely disappears, and the internal 

 coat again assumes its more natural tints. Strong, longitudinal rugae 

 already make their appearance here in the posterior fourth of the 

 oesophagus, and these are continued on into the stomach ; we also 

 observe that both the circular and longitudinal muscular fibres of 

 this division of the alimentary tract are well-developed as we come to 

 examine its posterior portion. 



The Stomach, in a full-grown lizard of this species, measures 

 for its greatest length about 9"2 centimetres and at its greatest 

 width about 2*5 centimetres ; this last measurement is taken 

 at the junction of the middle and the pyloric thirds. The anterior 

 or the somewhat shorter border of the organ exhibits one general 

 concave curvature that may be divided into two lesser and similar 

 ones ; the posterior and at the same time the longer border exhibits 

 one general convex curvature for its length. Muscular fibres can 

 plainly be made out upon its external surface running in the longitu- 

 dinal direction adown its cardiac moiety, they being continuous with 

 those of the oesophagus. 



At the cardiac end of this gastric pouch the oesophageal tube 

 gradually widens as it merges into it, and in reality no proper line 

 can be drawn to define any exact cardiac orifice ; but this does not 

 strictly apply to the pyloric extremity, for there we can very well 

 define the line of union between gut and stomach. Upon 0{)ening 

 the latter, we have presented us for our examination the abundant 

 longitudinal rugae of the cardiac half of the sac, while these are 

 generally reduced to two for the mucous lining of the pyloric 

 moiety, and from these two well-defined ridges strong transverse 

 rugae branch ofi". These are continued to the " pyloric valve," an 

 annular muco-muscular ridge which constricts the orifice of this end 

 of the stomach where it joins the small intestine. A lens of moderate 

 power will discover to us the gastric alveoli, but they are not con- 

 spicuous, and it would require a good microscope to make out such 

 structures as gastric follicles and peptic glands if they exist in the 

 internal mucous coat of this lizard, as they no doubt do. 



The entire intestine, in this same specimen, measured from the 

 stomach to the border of the anus, has a length of 40 centimetres, 

 and it presents the usual Lacertilian characters \ The duodenal por- 



' In the specimen under examination a complete invagination of the small 

 intestine existed, which, however, did not in any way involve the duodenum, 

 although it was very extensive below that point. The gut was but slightly 

 thickened from the inflammatory process, and by gentle traction the inslipped 

 or upper portion was easily pulled out, and this I did, wondering all the time 

 whether such an accident often took place in lizards. 



[53] 



