480 MR. F. E, BEDDARD ON THE [Nov. 28, 



have been published by the Society*, attemj)tecl to fill in some of 

 the lacunpe in our knowledge of an undovibtedly interesting genus 

 of Lacertilia, the systematic position of which within the order 

 cannot certainly at present be i-egarded as conclusively decided f. 



Ilesenteries and Veins of the Liver. — The hepatic ligaments are 

 quite typically Lacertilian, though presenting apparent differences 

 from those of other Lacertilia, which are due simply to the snake- 

 like form of Am2)hisbcena and the correspondingly snake-like 

 form of the liver. In my example of Amphisbcena hrasiUana, 

 measuring 15 inches in total length, the liver is 107 mm. or nearly 

 4| inches. The smaller left lobe, which extends neither so far 

 forwa,rd nor so far backward as the right lobe J, is oxAj 73 mm. 

 long. It may be noticed in passing that the liver shows several 

 rather obliquely placed transverse fissures, a state of aflfairs which 

 is known to exist in burrowing, and also in marine, snakes and 

 in the burrowing Csecilians. The transverse lobation of the liver 

 is not, however, a very marked phenomenon in this Lizard and 

 might easily be, as it has been by some at any rate §, overlooked. 



The umbilical ligament is, as in other Lizards, attached along 

 the whole length of the liver from beginning to end. It does 

 not, however, end with the liver, but is prolonged further, in fact 

 to the very end of the abdominal cavity. This fact has been 

 noted by Butler ||, whose remarks, in so far as they bear upon the 

 matter under consideration, are as follows : — " In many Lizards 

 these fat-bodies, pushing the peritoneum before them, bulge into 

 the body-cavity ; and, lying on the course of the large vessel, 

 ventral to the .... bladder .... and the alimentary canal, into 

 the ventral ligament of which they in some forms (Amphisbfenidse) 

 obviously extend," &c. Posteriorly, however, in the present species 

 the umbilical ligament is not attached to the gvit. It leaves the 

 liver for the stomach at the gall-bladder and ceases to be attached 

 to the stomach on a level with the posterior extremity of the right 

 lobe of the liver. The ligament is single throughout. 



The liver is attached dorsally by membranes which find their 

 homologues in other Lacertilia and are indeed but little altered 

 from the ai'rangements found generally. There ai-e two of these 

 membranes. The left-hand one attaches the left lobe of the liver 

 to the stomach, and the right-hand membrane is the " Hohlvene- 

 gekrbse " of Hochstetter, which attaches the vena cava to the 

 dorsal parietes posteriorly and is continued on to the gonad, and 

 which antei'iorly has somewhat varying relations among the 

 Lacertilia to the stomach and the parietes. In Amphisboina 

 this mesentery does not reach the dorsal body-wall independently 



* P. Z. S. 1904, 1905. 



■f For a resume of opinion, see Fiirbringer, " Beitrag z. Systematik und Genealogie 

 der Keptilien," Jen. Zeitsclir. xxxiv. 1900, p. 616. 



X It thus differs from A. cinerea as figured by v. Bedriaga, Arch. Naturg. p. 481 

 1884, pi. iv. fig. 2. 



§ U. g. by Cuvier, ' Le9ons d'Anat. Comp.' ed. 2, vol. iv. part ii. (1835). 



II "On the Relations of the Pat-Bodies of the Sauropsida," P. Z. S. 1889, 

 p. 603. 



