200 DR. R. W. SHUFELDT ON [Apr. 1, 



tion curves round the pancreas, and in it the coats of the tube 

 appear to be thinner than in any other part of the tract. Both the 

 stomach and the duodenum are connected to the spinal column by 

 a broad fold of the peritoneum ; in the case of the first it is known 

 as the " mesogaster," and in the second as the " mesentery." These 

 folds are absent in Man. 



In all of the specimens I have examined, the " ileo-csecal valve" 

 is notably rudimentary in character, and indeed in this form the 

 termination of the small intestine hardly seems to enter into that 

 pfirt of the tract, here spoken of as the rectal pouch, but which in 

 part must also, for its anterior division at least, represent the colon. 

 In Beloderma, too, the blind pouch that represents the cctcum 

 is so shallow that it would hardly attract our especial attention were 

 it not for the fact that it forms quite a conspicuous feature in a 

 number of other species. 



So far as the general calibre of the intestine is concerned, we are 

 to note that this is the greatest along the duodenal division, and from 

 this onwards to the point where it joins the rectal enlargement the 

 alimentary tube gradually diminishes in its calibre, being very notice- 

 ably smaller for the last fourth of its length. It enlaiges again 

 slightly just before it terminates. Without giving it a special 

 microscopical examination, the intestine seems to be composed of the 

 usual coats, and upon cutting into it it struck me that the intestinal 

 villi were comparatively very large, especially along its middle 

 portion. 



My big specimen of this lizard had a rectal sac some 9 cms. in 

 length, and of a form that quite well agrees with that of a Lacerta 

 viridis, as figured for us by Professor T. J. Parker in his ' Zootomy,' 

 on page 160 of that work (r). The mesenteric fold of the peritoneum 

 is continued backwards upon the rectum, and in this region it 

 is spoken of as the mesorectum. From this it will be seen that 

 the entire gastro-intestinal tract is supported, from one end to the 

 other, by a continuous fold of the peritoneum, which latter attaches 

 itself to the spinal column, along in the median line. 



The blind pouch or ccecum of the rectum is here very small and 

 scarcely definable. For instance, it is nothing like as prominent as 

 Owen figures it for Draco volans (loc. cit. vol. i. p. 445, fig. 303, h). 



The Urogenital System. — Unfortunately all the specimens of Helo- 

 derma at present to hand are females ; consequently it does not 

 lie within my power in this memoir to record anything relative to 

 either the urinary system or the generative aparatus in the male. 



In the urogenital system of the large specimen of this lizard men- 

 tioned above the following facts are presented for our consideration. 



An elongated, large, pear-shaped urinary bladder with thin walls 

 is to be observed. This has a length of 6 centimetres, measuring 

 2*5 at its widest part, and is supported by the usual tissues, and 

 opens in the usual manner into the ventral wall of the cloaca. 

 Parker (T. J.) found this viscus " bilobed " in Lacerta viridis, but 

 I find no such condition in our present subject, its anterior fundus 

 being uniformly rounded. 



