1904.] ON THE •■ KREPllOS'" IX A SKIiSTK. 145 



4. Note on an a[»parently Abnormal Position of the 

 " Brephos " within the Body o£ a Skink [Chalcides 

 lineatus). By Feank E. Beddard, M.A., F.R.S., 

 Prosector to the Society. 



[Received May 11, 19()4.J 

 (Text-figuve 25.) 



Among a numbei- of examples of the Lizard Chalcides liiieatus 

 which arrived in the Society's Menagerie on May 3rd, one was 

 found to he dead on its arrivah On opening the Lizard, which 

 proved to be a gravid female, a possible cause of death was at 

 once obvious. The reptile pi-esented a case of what may l)e 

 called extra-uterine pregnancy, and may have been unable to get 

 rid of the two young ones. That is, at any rate, one way — and 

 perhaps the most probable way — of inter'preting the following 

 facts. 



The Lizard itself measured 12 inches in length, including the 

 tail, and the young ones were of the same size, and measui-ed 

 within a very few millimetres of 3^ inches*. I did not attempt 

 a more exact measurement, as they were somewhat twisted. The 

 yolk-sac was not fully absorbed, and formed a string- like appendix 

 of about :j inch in length. In other respects these foetuses wei'e 

 exactly like the parent and obviously, at the very least, ready to 

 be born. Neither hrephos loas within the oviduct. Both lay, in 

 fact, apparently in the hody-cavity. The position of one of them 

 is shown in the accompanying drawing (text-fig. 25, p. 146), which 

 was made before the I'elations of surrounding organs were much 

 disturbed. Its head lies not far from the head of the parent ; 

 the end of the tail is nearly on a level with the posterioi- extremity 

 of the liver. The second hrephos la}' much fui'thei' back, but I 

 cannot give exact details, as it was liberated on cutting open the 

 body- wall of the parent. Both young ones lay in a. slight spiral 

 curve like the popular representations of a snake. There are some 

 other facts of interest in connection with the abnormal situation of 

 the two young Chalcides. The ovaiies contained niimerous round 

 white eggs, the largest of which did not measure more than 2 mm. 

 in diameter. I presume, therefore, that they are not nearly ready 

 for fertilisation. The two oviducts were in a condition coii-e- 

 sponding to that of the two ovaries. They showed no signs what- 

 ever of having recently contained eggs or embryos. Nor, on the 

 other band, was there an3rthing in the least abnormal about them 

 or their drawn-out peritoneal orifices. They were quite un 

 injured by my dissections. It seems to me, therefore, to l>e 

 indisputable that at least a great part of the development of the 

 two embryos must have taken place outside of the oviduct or 

 oviducts. And it is remarkable that this took so long in 

 producing an injury grave enough to be fatal to the mother. 

 Indeed, thei-e were no signs whatevei- of pathological conditions 



* The Sciiicidie are, at least for the most part, ovovivipavous. 



Proc. Zool. Soc.^1904, Vol. II. No. X. 10 



