Kneeland on the Anatomy of Crocodilus lucius. 115 
Weber! maintains that both Cuvier and Meckel are in 
error ; according to him the two ventricles communicate by 
an opening at the base of the heart ; both aortas and the pul- 
monary artery arise from the right ventricle; the blood from 
the left ventricle arrives at the right ventricle and the aortas 
by the opening in the partition: he found only a single valve 
in the ostea venosa. The heart he examined was sent to 
him as belonging to the Crocodilus rhombifer, but resembled 
much more the heart of the boa; Bischoff says it is extremely 
doubtful if it was the heart of a crocodile. [V. Müller's Ar- 
chiv. 1836.] 
The heart of our specimen agreed very nearly with Bis- 
choff’s description in Müller's Archiv. The heart and bulb 
were 4 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1 inch thick: its 
apex was adherent to the pericardium by a short firm mem- 
brane. The right ventricle was the largest, but the left per- 
haps the most muscular; the separation between them was 
complete. There were three vene cave, two above and one 
ow ; the sinus into which they opened was separated from 
the auricle by two valves; the opening into the ventricle 
was guarded also by two valves, one large and thin, the 
other small and fleshy. From the right ventricle arose the 
pulmonary artery, and the left or venous aorta ; both had two 
semilunar valves; at the entrance of the pulmonary artery 
were eight or ten small fleshy vegetations, arranged in a circle 
about 4 lines below the valves. From the left ventricle arose 
only a single vessel, the right or arterial aorta having two 
semilunar valves. The external wall of the two aortas and 
the pulmonary artery was the same till the division into 
branches; this formed the bulb, of which the pulmonary 
artery and the left aorta formed the left and lower portion, 
the right and upper portion being formed by the arterial 
aorta: all of these vessels were more.or less dilated, as if 
subject to frequent pressure. From the bulb the vessels arose 
in the following order, from left to right: the pulmonary 
. ! Miller's Archiv. 1836. p. 1. Paper by Bischoff. 
