258 MR. F. E. BEDDAED ON THE ANATOMY [Juue 6, 



mented area in the male Gerrliosaurus is distinctly greater than 

 in the female example of that lizard, and there is no conspicuous 

 fold of membrane continued forward from the gonad duct to serve 

 as a demarcation between the two areas in the latter. 



The suspensory ligaments of the liver offer, as is well known, 

 characteristic differences of arrangement in various Lacertilia. 

 In both examples of Gerrliosaurus the falciform ligament of the 

 liver is double posteriorly for about the last \ of the total length of 

 the liver. This double region of the umbilical or falciform ligament 

 is a tent-like structure ; that is, the two sepai-ate membranes 

 converge ventrally to be inserted in common on to the ventral 

 median line of the parietes. A partial duplication of the 

 umbilical ligament of this kind is not uncommon in the Lacertilia. 

 It occurs, for example, in Lacerta ocellata. The double condition 

 of the umbilical ligament in the Scincidse, originally discovered by 

 John Hvinter * and subsequently more fully dealt with by myself t 

 and Pi-of . Cope +, seems to be merely an exaggeration of this, the 

 union of the two, posteriorly sej^arate, umbilical ligaments being 

 deferred until at or near the anterior extremity of the liver. 

 Furthermore, all of the members of the family Scincidee are not 

 thus characterised ; for in Macroscinus cocteaui the arrangement 

 of the umbilical ligament is much like that of Gerrhosaurtts. In 

 the question of affinity, therefore, the disposition of these mesen- 

 teries is not decisive. There are, however, one or two other points 

 to be noted. In the first place, in Bameces algeriensis both the 

 umbilical ligaments are thickly invaded by muscular tissue, 

 especially the left-hand ligament. This is also noticeable in 

 Macroscincus, though to a much less extent ; and it will be 

 remembered that Macroscincus cocteaui is a much larger lizard 

 than is Eumeces algeriensis, so that size in this case has nothing 

 to do with the development of thickness and muscularity in the 

 umbilical ligaments. It is plainly therefore of importance to note 

 that in Gerrhosaurus these ligaments are not obviously muscular 

 at all. 



In the accompanying figures (text-figs. 33, 34) of the ventral 

 svirface of the liver in Gerrhosaurus two other facts may be 

 pointed out. In the first place, there are traces of a membrane 

 Avhich runs obliquely forward and ends in a notch in the left 

 border of the liver. As this white seam (6 in text-figs. 33, 34) 

 is much better developed in one example than in the other, I take 

 it to represent a rudimentary strvicture, and it may represent the 

 original course of the umbilical vein and thus correspond to a 

 similar trace which Hochstetter has lately desci'ibed § in the 

 Blind "Worm (Anguis fragilis). '" 



* Essays and OlDservations, revised bj' Richard Owen, London, 1861, vol. ii. p. 369. 

 " The liver [of Tiliqtia^ is attached forwards by two membranes, one to each lobe, 

 which unite at top." 



f P. Z. S. 1888, p. 98. 



i Proc. Acad. Sci. Philadelphia, 1896, p. 308. 



§ Morph. Jahrb. xix. Taf. xvi. lig. 18 ; but the course of the seam is different in 

 the two cases. 



