130 



continued to the left lobe. The intestines occupy their own serous 

 cavity : but below the pubes a distinct serous cavity contains the 

 anterior part of the cloaca or genito-urinary reservoir. The perito- 

 neal or serous membrane does not invest the kidneys, but is reflected 

 over their anterior (abdominal) surface. 



" The peritoneal canals vvere very easily made out. They opened 

 on each side of the base of the penis, by tvvo orifices capable of ad- 

 mitting the point of a fine blow-pipe. In the Croc. acutus Mr. Ovven 

 found them to allow barely of the passage of an eye-probe; but in 

 the present animal, small as it was, they vvere far larger; still it 

 appeared to me that they could not serve the purpose suggested 

 by M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire. Can they be intended to allow of the 

 escape of any gaseous secretion, any aerifornn fluid, which may fili 

 the abdominal serous cavity, and be expelled under certain circum- 

 stances, as, for instance, vvhen the aninial seeks the deep bed of the 

 lake or river? 



" The stomach was globular and flattened, with a glistening ten- 

 dinous patch on each side, as large as a shilling, or nearly so. The 

 entrance of the cesophagus and the pyloric appendiz vvere close 

 together, the appendix being about as large as a good-sized horse- 

 bean : from this the duodemim, emerging, formed a double fold ; that 

 is, a fold formed by tvvo lengths of intestlne put together, and bent 

 upon themselves, embracing vvithin the outer line, as in Birds, the 

 pancreas, a long thin gland, one portion of vvhich was continued a short 

 distance along the free portion of the intestlne, vvhere it became 

 more thick, and ended abruptly. Further to the right, but in close 

 contact vvith this duodenal fold, lay the spleen, a grey flattened 

 rounded cake; it vvas touched by the lovver edge of the right lobe of 

 theliver.and vvas totallysurrounded hy peritoneum, vvhich attachedit 

 by a narrovv riband or slip to the duodenum, belovv the entrance of 

 the biliary ducts : along this riband ran a large vein, going from 

 the spleen to the vena portą : a small artery was also visible. The 

 gall-bladder, of an oval shape, and 1 inch long, entered the duode- 

 num at the termination of the outer folded layer, just where it be- 

 gan to be free, by a duct half an inch in length. The pancreatic duct 

 I could not succeed in tracing, but it certainly did not enter vvith 

 the biliary. In the Croc. acutus it enters a quarter of an inch beyond 

 that duct. 



" lt may be remarked that the stomach contained no pebbles or 

 stones, but merely a little mucus. In a specimen of Croc. acutus 

 8ubsequentlv examined the stomach vvas distended vvith undigested 

 lumps of flešh, and a vast quantity of Indian corn, svvallovved most 

 probably in lieu of pebbles : the grains vvere hard, and quite unal- 

 tered. 



" The liver consisted of tvvo distinct masses or lobes, of a trian- 

 gular figure ; and it vvas betvveen them, but on the edge of the right, 

 that the gall-bladder vvas situated. 



" The duodenum vvas rather larger in circumference than the ręst 



