302 MR. F. E. BEDDARD OX THE [NoV. 3, 



sheet of membrane just referred to, is a foramen in the hepato- 

 pulmonary membrane, which, whether normal or abnormal, is 

 certainly natural. It is a foramen with a perfectly clear margin 

 as seen with a lens, and four to five millimetres across. In the 

 drawing a probe is represented inserted in this foramen. On the 

 left side of the body the membrane which bears the orifice of the 

 oviduct arises also from the edge of the liver anteriorly. 



This state of afi'airs, which has been described by others, is not 

 apparent in the smaller, male, individual. In this Salamander the 

 base of the lung is closely attached to the lateral parietes on both 

 sides of the body by a tough and very short membrane. There is 

 no trace whatever of a fold of membrane arching over this and 

 bearing the mouth of the oviduct. Evidently, therefore, the 

 existence of this fold is associated with the oviduct, for the smaller 

 animal was fully mature. 



The sperm-duct could be traced forward to below the shelter of 

 the lung, i. e. where the latter fills up the space between the liver 

 and the parietes. Here the membrane supporting it curves 

 round in a semicircle to the right as in the larger individual, but 

 there was no trace of the oviduct along the semicircular curve. 

 On the other hand, what I take to be the end of the sperm-duct 

 lay in the same straight line with the rest of the duct*. I may 

 remark, furthermore, that the extent and depth, as shown by 

 passing a probe above it, of the semicircular membrane is greater 

 proportionately in this male individual. A bristle tipped with 

 sealing-wax could be passed forwards as far as to a point beneath 

 the pericardium. This extension forwards of the body-cavity 

 then comes to be obliterated in the female, or indeed possibly in 

 course of growth, perhaps owing to the pressure of the lung. 



On the left-hand side of the body I found precisely the same 

 state of affairs. 



§ The Heart. 



The heart, which has been described by Osawa t more accurately 

 than by others, lies in a spacious pericardium which is roughly 

 of a circular form, and proved to have the following dimensions : 

 greatest diameter 65 mm., greatest length 6'5 mm. The heart 

 does not by any means completely fill this pericardium. As to the 

 general shape of the heart, the ventricle is rhomboidal, the posterior 

 angle of the rhomboid lying a little to the right of the entrance 

 of the vena cava inferior. The right-hand angle of the rhomboid 

 is tied down by a gubernaculum (text-fig. 29, G), not figured by 

 Osawa, which is attached partly to the wall of the pericardium, 

 and partly to the right vena cava superior. The gubernaculum 

 is broad and can be seen, by passing a probe beneath it and then 



* The sperm-ducts end anteriorly in a small flattened projecting bodj' only 

 attached by one end to the membrane which supports it. I find a precisely similar 

 body in the large female, but entirely unconnected with any further rudiment of the 

 male-duct. This is referred to on p. 315, in connection with the termination of 

 the ArtericB comites aorta. 



t " Beitragc zur Anatomic des Japanischen Eiesensalamanders," Mitth. Medicin. 

 Facult. k. Japan. Univ. v. p. 221 (1902). 



