22 MR. F. E, BEDDARD ON THE [Jan, 16, 



pai'ietal veins on the two sides of the body ; but, as has been 

 remarked, the most noteworthy difference is that the veins of the 

 right side are more slender than those of the left, and this applies 

 also to the section of the parietal system which runs along the 

 outer border of the kidney. 



In the second specimen, the longitudinal vessel running to the 

 outside of each kidney was not marked, at least on the right side 

 of the body. The same large vein enters the afferent renal just 

 before the latter reaches the kidney. Towards the anterior 

 end of the kidney the veins of five or six intercostal spaces 

 join together and form a single trunk, which does not extend 

 beyond the kidney but appears to plunge into the substance of that 

 organ. There is thus an accessory renal portal system formed 

 which is exactly like that which characterises Aniphisbcena'*. 

 These vessels are represented in the fii'st of the two specimens 

 which I dissected ; but in that individual they are connected with 

 the thinner anterior section of the kidney and with a vein which 

 runs along that region of the kidney. In the second specimen, the 

 vein distinctly opens into the posterior thicker region of the kidney 

 and some v>^ay behind its anterior termination. In this example, 

 moreover, the right afferent renal is traceable back along the 

 intestine for a much shorter distance than in the other specimen. 

 The posterior continuation indeed assumes the form of an in- 

 conspicuous branch of the stout parietal vein Avhich joins the renal 

 afferent just before its entrance into the kidney. 



The afferent renal trunk is also partly fed from the intestinal 

 walls. Slender branches enter the transversely running affluents 

 of that vein. 



It is evident that the renal afferent system shows the same 

 asymmetry that we see in the hejDatic-portal system ; that is to say, 

 that the system of longitudinal parietal vessels connected with 

 the afferent veins are developed only upon the left side of the 

 body. 



Afferent Suprarenal Veins. — These veins arise, as in other 

 reptiles, from the dorsal parietes, near to the middle, and are a 

 continuation of the series Avhich supply the liver in front and the 

 kidneys behind. They are, however, unlike the hepatic series, 

 developed upon both sides of the body. These vessels are con- 

 nected with a slender vein which runs from the anterior end of 

 the broader region of the kidney along the " meson ephros " to the 

 neighbourhood of, and behind, the gall-bladder. This vessel, 

 which exists in other reptiles t, is, as I think, a portion of the 

 right posterior cardinal, the corresponding vessel on the left side 

 of the body being of course the left cardinal vein. I am not 

 positive that this vessel is continuous all the way along the 

 mesonephros ; but it is to be found at any rate for considerable 

 stretches. Into this longitudinal vein open the afferent 

 vessels from the parietes. I counted five of them altogether, of 



* P. Z. S. 1905, vol. ii. p. 485. 



t E. g. AmpMshcena, cf. Beddard, P. Z. S. 1905, vol. ii. p. 486. 



