131 



of the small intestines, which were in a worm-like range of convolu- 

 tions, on a process of peritoneum that expanded like a fan from the 

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

 Mr. Owen, but of moderate size, and dark coloured; its diameter 

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

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

 ' reduced,) by a valvular or sphincter like aperture, the parietes of 

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

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

 being barely 2 inches ; its internal membrane 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 two chambers, by a valvular 

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

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

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



"The/)enw was small, being only half an inch in length ; it lay 

 curled up, and its apex was cleft horizontally, one point being elon- 

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

 miniature to the flower commonly known as the Snap-dragon, — 

 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 lower apex of eacli 

 kidney, and were of considerable circumference ; their length was 

 1 inch. 



" At the upper ajiex of the kidneys, and partly upon them, lay the 

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

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

 pointed. 



" Over the yellow wrinkled skin which covered the tongue or 

 muscular expansebetween the rami of the lower jaw, numerous small 

 glandular orifices were thickly dispersed, whence exuded a viscid 

 saliva or mucus. 'V\xe pharynx was closed by the cartilaginous ex- 

 pansion of the OS hyoides described by M. Geoffrey Saint Hilaire in 

 the 2nd volume of the ' Annales du Museum,' which, by its arrange- 

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

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

 anterior to the posterior nares. Considerably behind this gular 

 valve is situated the glottis, the rima of which, like that of a Bird, 

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

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

 water both into the tracheal tube and the oesophagus; so that the 

 animal can breathe, provided the nostrils are just above the water, 



