131 



of the small intestines, which were in a vvortn.like range of convoIu> 

 tions, on a process of periioneum that expanded likę a fan from the 

 spine : at the root of this mesentery I found the gland described by 

 Mr. Ovven, but otmoderate size, and dark colouied; its diameter 

 about half an inch. The totai length of the small intestines was 4 feet 

 8 inchfcs. They entered the rectum (for to this were the large intestines 

 ' reduced,) by a valvular or sphincterlike aperture, \hG parietės of 

 which were firm, thick, and muscnlar. The rectum suddenly enlarged 

 on the reception of the small intestines, the length of this viscus 

 being barely 2 inches ; its internal raembrane was longitudinally 

 plicated. The portion which I have denominated rectum entered into 

 a large cloaca, or genito-urinary cavity, its entrance being surrounded 

 by a large fleshy sphincter, similar to that around the entrance of the 

 small intestine into the rectum. 



"The cloaca was itself divided into tvvo chambers, by a valvular 

 fold : the upper division was large ; the anai one small. The breadth 

 of the meso-rectum, 1 inch. The ureters entered just above the val- 

 vular fold alluded to. The urine opake and white, as in Birds. 



"Thepe«w vvas small, being only half an inch in length ; it lay 

 curled up, and its apex was clef't horizontali)^, one point being elon- 

 gated, and bending over the other, so as to produ,ce a resemblance in 

 miniature to the flovver commonly knovvn as the Snap-dragan, — 

 Antirrhinum majus. 



" The kidneys consisted of two oval bodies, with flattened sur- 

 faces, having their venous ramifications symmetrically disposed, 

 runniug horizontally across from a median line, so that each kidney 

 had no unapt resemblance to some of the fossil fern leaves : the 

 ureters emerged from a cleft in the centre of the lovver apex of each 

 kidney, and vvere of considerable circumference ; their length was 

 1 inch. 



*' At the upper apex of the kidneys, and partly upon them, lay the 

 testes, tvvo red elongated slender bodies, of a tolerably firm consist- 

 ence. In length they were about 1 inch, and each extremity vvas 

 pointed. 



" Over the yelIow vvrinkled skin which covered the tongue or 

 muscular expansebetween the rami of the lo\ver jaw, numerous small 

 glandular orifices vvere thickly dispersed, vvhence exuded a viscid 

 saliva or mucus, 'l'he pharipii was closed by the cartilaginous ex- 

 pansion of the os hyoides described by M. GeofFroy Saint Hilaire in 

 the2nd volume of the ' Annales du Musėum,' vvhich, by its arrange- 

 ment, forms a gular valve, its free edge pressing against a sort of 

 velum pendulum, or semilunar fold of the palate, vvhich advances 

 anterior to the posterior nares. Considerably behind this gular 

 valve is situated the glottis, the rimą of vvhich, likę that of a Bird, 

 is unfurnished \vith an epiglottis ; unless, indeed, the gular valve be 

 considered in this light, its use being to prevent the ingurgitation of 

 vvater both into the tracheal tube and the cesophagus ; so that the 

 animal can brcathe, providcd the nostrils are just above the vvater. 



