CUAP. I. 



UROGENITAL ORGANS. 



287 



Tlie l^-mjihatic system is very nuicli devclojiod in Turtles.^ Two hearts, lying 

 near the base of the tail, immediately under the bony shield, and provided with 

 fat cushions for protection against pressure, form the pump-work of this vascular 

 system. Like the blood-heart, these lymphatic hearts are provided with transversely 

 striated muscular fibres. Lymph vessels bathe all the arteries of the body, surround- 

 ing not only the main stems, l)ut running with them along all their branches. 

 There lies a large lymph cistern between the lungs, opening into the ductus tho- 

 racicus, which leads into the vena; subclavice. 



SECTION XIII. 



UROGENITAL ORGANS. 



JJrhxarij Organs. We find that the so-called primordial kidneys, or Wolffian 

 bodies, which exist in all Turtles, as well as in all other true Reptiles, are built 

 up, as in those, of fine canals, sending off a duct into the cloaca. We have 

 never found a distinct secretion in this duct. Investigations about their relation 

 to the real kidneys and to the genital organs have led us to results which are 

 in many respects at variance with those of other authors.^ The urinary bladder of 

 the Turtles is always more or less bilobed, and mostly onesided. It is remarkably 

 large, and in land Turtles almost always filled. The ureters are short, the kid- 

 neys lying in the cavity of the pelvis, outside of the peritoneum. The kidneys are 

 generally flattened, and composed of many lobes. Their weight, in relation to the 

 weight of the body, varies much in difierent Turtles, and the laws about this 

 variation are not yet clear ;^ but all of them have the kidneys two or three 

 times smaller in proportion than other Reptiles. 



Genital Orgam. While in Turtles the kidneys lie outside of the peritoneum. 



2885 grains. Anioiint of blood oljtniiicd, 400 grains ; 

 not more than one third the usn.al qnantity. Solid 

 constituents in lOilO purls, 111',) ; wiitcr, 800. We ([iiote 

 this experiment only to show how intensively all the 

 systems of the body are working on, even in this state 

 of starvation, and how erroneous is the idea of a gen- 

 eral lorpiir of such liungcriiig animals. 



' After this system had been first discovered in 

 Turtles by Ilewson, in 17G9, and beautifully illus- 

 trated by Bojanus in 181'J, J. Midler discovered, in 



1839, the hearts which sot it in motion. This impor- 

 tant discovery of .1. Jluller seems, however, to be 

 unknown to Uymcr Jones, who, in the year 18.'(2, in 

 Todd's Cyclopedia, (Reptiles, p. 302,) denies the exist- 

 ence of these lymphatic hearts in Turtles. They are 

 easily found in any living Turtle, and may be seen 

 beating for a long time after being laid bare. 



■•' Sec Part III. of this work, where this point 

 is fully considered. 



' See p. 127 of Jones's pai>er, 4. a., j). 277, note. 



