618 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE [May 29, 



is a particularly prominent vein in the yaraniclse as contrasted with 

 other families of Lacertilia. In the connection of the lateral vein 

 system with the hepatic circulation, Varanus shows a point of 

 resemblance to the Orocodilia, where such a connection also occurs, 

 and with which I deal in a subsequent page of the present 

 communication*. I do not, however, lay so much stress upon 

 this comparison as upon the difference Avhich Varanus shows in 

 this part of its circulatoiy system from other Lacertilia. 



Gastro-hepatic Vein. — It is important to note that Varanus 

 differs from many other Lacertilia t in the limitation of the 

 gastro-hepatic veins to a single vein. Hochstetter has already 

 correctly noted that there is but one vein of this series which 

 enters the extreme anterior tip of the left liver-lobe. I have 

 found exactly the same state of affairs in an example of Varanus 

 griseu,s recently dissected. I find also exactly the same vein 

 occupying the same position in V. exanthematicus. In Vara^ius 

 niloticus the same gastro-hepatic vein was present and appeared 

 to be particularly large. It is a point worthy of note that the 

 position of this vein, that is of its place of entrance, is exactly the 

 same in the left lobe as the anterior parieto-hepatic vein in the 

 right lobe. It is possible that the great width of the liver in 

 Varanus is responsible for the separation of two veins which in 

 Helodervia % enter conjointly, the liver being in that Lizard 

 narrow anteriorly. 



(3) On some Veins in the Crocodilia. 



Although the main features of the vascular system generally, 

 including the veins, in the Orocodilia are fairly well known §, there 

 are a few details which have not received attention ; and, more- 

 over, there yet remains, as it seems, a good deal to be ascertained 

 before the variations of the venous system from genus to genus 

 is at all understood. I shall show in the following pages that the 

 veins with which I deal are by no means uniformly disposed in 

 all Crocodiles. The observations which I place before the Society 

 were almost entirely conducted upon well-injected specimens, and 

 are therefore, as I hope, trustworthy as records of positive fact. 

 It is obviously less possible to insist upon the absolute reliability 

 of negative facts. 



§ Azygos Veins or Vence Vertehrales. 



Rathke's description of the azygos veins would not give lise 

 to the impression that they show differences among different 



* V. infra, p. 622. 



t Not, however, from Phelsuma madagascariensis and Tarentola annularis, 

 where there is also but one gastro-hepatic vein. 



t Above, p. 607. 



§ See especially : Rathke, " TJntersuchnngen iiber die Entwickelung und den 

 Korperban der Krokodile," Braunschweig, 1866 ; .Tacquart in Ann. Sci. Nat. (4) ix. 

 1858, p. 129 ; Hochstetter in Morph. Jahrb. xix. 1893, p. 476 ; Jourdain in Ann. Sci. 

 Nat. (4) xii., 1859 ; Beddard in P. Z. S. 1905, vol. ii. p. 466. 



