918 MR. F. E. BEDBARD ON THE ANATOMY [DeC. 15, 



removed without tearing the structures which it covers. When 

 this has been done (see text-fig. 182,/., p. 917), a transparent and 

 toughish membrane is revealed, which completely covei'S the cavity 

 and is continuous with the septum bounding it on the side of the 

 leg, to which reference has been alread}^ made. Anteriorly and 

 lateral]}^, however, the membrane described is adhei^ent to the skin. 

 Below this membrane, and of course peifectly visible through it, is 

 a large fat-body quite similar in appearance to the structure which 

 I have termed the thymus gland and to the abdominal fat-bodies 

 at the anterior end of the gonads. These fat-bodies are lobulated 

 and extend some little way down the side of the body in the 

 direction of the abdomen. The transverse diameter is thus the 

 greatest and they measure in this direction about 15 mm. In 

 the opiDosite direction the diameter is 8 mm., showing that these 

 bodies nearly fully occupy the suprafemoral cavity, which is now 

 under discussion. These fat-masses are also of considerable 

 thickness, and lobulated upon the lower surface as well as the 

 upj^er. They are by no means to be confused with the mass of 

 apparently coagulated lymph which I have described in a corre- 

 sponding position in Breviceps verrucosus. The general aspect 

 of this region of the body will be understood after a reference 

 to text -figure 182. 



So far there is nothing exactly corresponding to the lymph - 

 hearts of Breviceps. There is merely a correspondence in the 

 existence of a space lying above the thigh and to the side of the 

 coccygeal region of the vertebral column in the two Frogs. 

 There is, moreover, the important difference that in Hemisus 

 thiiS space is largely occupied by the bulky fat-body already 

 described. Anteriorly to the fat-body on each side, as is shown in 

 the accompanying drawing (text-fig. 182, c), a broad strap-shaped 

 muscle is to be seen ; this is not to be confused with the obliquus 

 externus which lies in front of it, and, indeed, until a dissection is 

 made, almost, if not quite, in contact with it. Whether this muscle 

 is morphologically a portion of the obliquus which has become 

 detached from the rest of that muscle and diverted to a separate 

 function is another matter ; it is not in any case in anatomical 

 continuity with it. This muscle arises from the ileum below, 

 passing upwards to the dorsal surface of the body and at the 

 same time outwards. Its oblique course ends chiefly upon the 

 skin, but also upon the membrane, uniting the fat-body to the 

 skin in this region. 



When the membrane covering the fat-body, and connecting it 

 with the mass of bone and muscle constituting the caudal and 

 pelvic regions of the body, is cut and the fat-body pushed aside 

 towards the side of the body (a,vvay from the middle line) it is seen 

 (text-fig. 183) to fill but loosely the space in which it lies and from 

 which it is, indeed, partly cut ofl;" by membranes which cover it 

 below. This membrane is largely fenestrated, so that the space 

 which contains the fat-body is not shut off completely from the 

 space lying below it. It is also attached by flat stran ds of membrane 



