1908.] 



OF SNAKES OF THE GENUS CORALLUS. 



U7 



variability in the form of the posterioi' termination of the liver 

 (text-fig. 25), but in no specimen that I have dissected was there 

 anything at all appi'oaching the long thin appendage of Corallus 

 madagascariensis. In one specimen, where this prolongation was 

 particulai'ly well developed, it only measured | of an inch in length, 

 which is far below that of the hepatic process of its presumed 

 congener. The prolongation, in fact, in Corallus cookii is hardly 

 an exaggeration of what is found in those other serpents in which 

 the one lobe does extend further backwards than the other. 



Text-fiff. 25. 



\i 



s. 



CO. 



Posterior end of liver of two individuals (a & h) of Corallus cooJcii. 

 a shows a long tail-like process. 



"Out of the six other examples of Corcdlus cookii which I examined 

 three had a more or less well-developed tail to the liver and three 

 had the barest traces of the same. The two species thus contrast, 

 it being of course assumed that the one example of Corallus 

 'madagascariensis which I examined represented the normal in 

 structure. 



§ Pancreas and Spleen. 



I take these two organs together, because in the Reptilia 

 (especially in the Ophidia) there is generally a pretty close 

 connection between them. In Corallus madagascariensis the 

 spleen is a small rounded body situated at some distance from 

 the pancreas, which is a. solid compact gland abutting on to the 

 duodenal walls. In Corallus cookii the pancreas is of a difierent 

 form, always assuming that I have made no error in the descrip- 

 tion of C. madagascariensis. In any case it is certain that in 

 C. cookii (for I have identified the various structures to be 



