Dr. A. Giinther oti the Tailless Batrachians. 73 



the otner Aniira, except in the situation, as mentioned above. There 

 is a single ventricuhis and two separated atria ; from the former 

 rises a very short bulbus arteriosus, the interior of winch and of the 

 other vessels could not be examined on account of their condition. 

 The bulbus is soon divided into two strong stems, each of which 

 emits three branches, ascending together for a short distance, — 

 namely, an arteria pulmonalis, a carotis desceudeus, and a united 

 stem of the a. cerebralis and a. lingualis. The right atrium receives 

 the blood of the veins of the body ; the left one that of two venae 

 pulmonales. 



We find more peculiarities in the tractus intestinalis. The oeso- 

 phagus is very strong, its circumference equal to that of the stomach ; 

 the mucosa is provided with very long villi, projecting nearly 1 mill, 

 into the cavity ; the next outer stratum is thick and of tendinous 

 texture, thickest in the anterior and posterior medial line, and form- 

 ing two very strong tendinous bands. These serve for the insertion 

 of transverse muscular fibres, going from the anterior medial line to 

 the posterior one, and forming two very strong constrictores, each 

 surrounding one half of the oesophagus. If they co-operate, they 

 then constrict the oesophagus as circular fibres would do ; but by the 

 separation into two parts the eifect is rendered more powerful. The 

 entrance from the oesophagus into the stomach is marked externally 

 by the al)sence of the muscles, internally by the beginning of the 

 mucosa ventriculi, which is deeply and longitudinally folded and 

 wants the long villi. The stomach is short, ovoid, and gradually lost 

 in the smaller intestines without a pylorus ; the latter are 3-| times the 

 length of the body, and suddenly open into the excessively w-ide rectum. 

 The ^jff?2cre(7« is large, and joined with the intestine by a\\ide ductus 

 Wirsungiauus ; about half an inch below the stomach three or four 

 smaller branches open into the intestine, separated from the chief 

 ductus ; probably this is the place for the mouth of the ductus cho- 

 ledochus, which I could not find. The liver is large, and at the first 

 glance it appears to be separated into a right half and a larger left 

 one ; but both parts are joined by a very narrow bridge, passing 

 behind the heart : the left flap has a deep incision. Both flaps sur- 

 round the heart, and the left one also the stomach. The gall- 

 bladder is situated just in the medial line, beneath the uniting bridge, 

 not in direct contact with the hepatic parenchyma, but fixed to it by 

 the peritoneum ; from each flap of the liver, one ductus hepaticus 

 opens separately into the bladder. The organa xiropoietica do not 

 oifer any remarkable diiferences, at least not in the male. The tes- 

 ticles oval ; kidneys elongate, cylindrical ; corpora adiposa formed 

 by long appendages ; the bladder enters the cloaca on the anterior 

 part, the urethrse on the posterior one. 



The osteological peculiarities only consist in diiferences of form ; 

 and as far as they can be made out in a single coherent skeleton, 

 they are the following. All the external bones of the skull are en- 

 tirely ossified ; the cranium is flat, depressed, very broad, without 

 crest, and with a sharp not prominent lateral edge. The foramen ju- 

 gulare is very large, but closed by a fibrous membrane pierced by 



