144 Anafomicat Ol'servations an 



into the common cloaca by six or seven holes on each side,- 

 disposed in a circular manner around the urinaiy passage. 



V. Of the Liver, 



The liver is composed of two unequal lobes : one of them 

 has the form of a parallelopipedon (0' 14 metre by 0-09) ; the 

 other is slender and more elongated (O-IJ)). This viscus 

 exhibited a very remarkable organizationj which has never 

 yet been noticed by any anatomist. The convex surface oi 

 each lobe is covered by a membrane, which is the aponeurosi;? 

 of a muscle, the use of which I can hardly comprehend. 

 This muscle, which begins at the posterior and inferior edge 

 of each lobe, is inserted very near the pelvis, m the last piece 

 of the sternum ; for it must be recollected, that the latter is 

 prolonged beyond the ribs, and tcrmmates in a large piece 

 articulated with the bones of the pelvis. These two muscles, 

 which have not yet been found in any other annual, produce 

 by their contraction the depression of the liver, and thereby 

 give more capacity to the breast. This use makes them 

 have an affinity with the diaphragm : the points to which 

 they are attached might induce a belief of the same thing *. 

 The gall-bladder is ovoid, 0-08 of a metre by 0-03, and ad- 

 heres to the right lobe of the liver. 



VI. Of the other Viscera. 



As these have been alreadv so well described by most of 

 the authors before mentioned, I shall give only their rela- 

 tive positions, because this information may furnish some 

 useful hints for determining the different kinds of croco- 

 diles. 



The heart. — Its height is 0-07 metre, its base 0-05. The 

 right auricle is larger than the left. 



The spleen.— 0\2i\ elongated, 0*10 by 0-04. On the in- 

 ferior face it is some>.vh;u concave ; and on the upper rises 

 into two ridges, one of which is veiy small. 



The kidneys are composed of papillae, and numerous si- 

 nuosities formed by a collection of glands, 0"11 metre by 

 O-Ooi- 



I had not rcolved to publish these observations till after 

 my return from Eg\'pt ; and at that time, notwithstanding 

 the learned researches of several of my colleagues, they had 

 Still retained all thi-ir novelty. The object of Cuvier's ex- 

 cellent memoir is merely to establish the real differences be- 



* C. Cuvier obscvcd these muscles in the crocodile of St. Domingo. 

 He proposes tu dcicribe them at more leiii^th in his Com^ai ati-ve Ana- 



tween 



