Vauquelin on the Excrement of Serpents. 319 



ence is more striking, and subject to fewer exceptions, as we 

 shall show further on, if we consider in the flower merely the 

 stamina. A single genus of flowers, that of the arum, has 

 presented a phenomenon very worthy of attention, by a pro- 

 duction of Aea^ hitherto unknown. 



15. Examination of the Excrements of Serpents, exhibiting in 

 Paris, of the Boa Species. By M. Vauquelin. 



His experiments prove, that the excrements are merely uric 

 acid without any mixture, except a little ammonia, potash, and 

 animal matter ; and are consequently produced from the urine 

 like that formerly discovered in the excrements of birds. But 

 the true excrements of the serpents are not of the same nature as 

 those now spoken of ; for others were given him only of feathers 

 slightly changed, and bones become very brittle and deprived 

 almost entirely of their gelatine ; which proves that feathers, 

 that is the horny texture, is, of all animal matters, the most 

 diflScult to digest. 



The first species of excrement issues from the body of the 

 animal, in the form of a pap, resembling chalk or starch diffused 

 in a little water. Sometimes they come forth in a concrete 

 mass, like a calculus. This proves that the urine of serpents 

 dwells, like that of birds, in a sort of reservoir, called cloaca, 

 where it is inspissated. — Ann. de Chim. et de Phys, xxi. 440. 



Vol. XV. 



