the Crocodile of the Nile. 14 J 



lacerta. "What 1 have already said of the configuration of 

 the head and lungs of this reptile removes it no doubt from 

 that genus, but the consideration of the organs of generation 

 will obviate all uncertainty in regard to these natural relations. 



Most lizards, like serpents, are furnished with two yards, 

 situated on each side of the anus. Properly speaking, they 

 are only two cavernous bodies, formed by a slight cutaneous 

 expansion, and terminated by two cartilaginous appendices. 

 In the inside of them are found two glands, which pour 

 forth a liquor in such abundance, that it has given rise to 

 mistakes in regard to its nature, and made it be consi- 

 dered as the seminal liquor. These yards move in a sheath 

 formed by a duplicature of the skin : they are terminated 

 behind by an elongated muscle, always inclosed in a mem- 

 branous vagina, which, by contracting, forces them to re- 

 enter. 



If the crocodile retains any part of this general plan of 

 organization, the combination is quite different. It has only 

 ene yard lodged at the anterior part, and in the fold of a 

 common cloaca : it is imperforated, entirely cartilaginous,- 

 and terminated by a kind of gland 0'03 in length. It has 

 two glands on the sides of the anus, from which oozes 

 a whitish liquor through two distinct orifices at a consider- 

 able distance from each other. These glands produce no 

 protuberance, and yet the retractor of the cavernous bodies 

 of lizards exists. It is even of so considerable a volume 

 (0'40 in length, and O-ll in its greatest thickness), that it 

 is this muscle with its congenerate that swells up the anterior 

 part of the tail, so that it cannot be distinguished by a di- 

 minution of volume from the rest of the body. This muscle 

 is terminated by a sharp edge, or ridge, where it is articu- 

 lated with the caudal vertebrae, and by a free and round edge 

 on the opposite side. What is remarkable besides is, that 

 it is contained, like the retractor muscle of the cavernous 

 bodies, in a proper sheath of great thickness, and of a carti'^ 

 laginous nature. This sheath is continued forwards in an 

 aponeurosis, which spreads and is inserted on the pdvis ; 

 so that, as the uses of this muscle change with the geneml 

 System of organization, they are confined to contnbtiting 

 merely to the lateral motion of the tail. 



The testicles in some measure approach near to those of 

 fishes : they are narrow and elongated. They are observed 

 a little above and before the kidneys. ^ 



The semen is convcved in two pretty large vessels, .con- 

 tiguous, and lodged behind the common cloaca. These 

 vesicles are in parT closed by a carliiaginous bag : they op^ji 



into 



