I 



of the Galapagos Tortoise. 



451 



t 



was twenty-six and a half inches ; being cut open, the 

 cardia measured transversely six Inches, the largest part 

 of the organ, which was not far from this, was found to 

 be ten inches, after which it gradually became smaller 

 towards the pylorus where it was four and a half inches. 

 The mucous membrane was thrown into broad, lon^itu- 

 dinal folds, and contiected with the muscular by means of 

 a lax, cellular tissue ; towards the pylorus these tended 

 to be effaced, and the membrane altogether, was less 

 movable upon the parts beneath. The muscular coat 

 was very thick and dense, having on its external surface 

 a fibrous appearance, so that the organ looked not unlike 

 the gizzard of a bird ; towards the cardia it was from one 

 to two lines in thickness, gradually increasing till within 

 three inches of the pylorus, where it had reached its 

 maximum and measured from four to five lines : it then 

 became suddenly very thin and continued so till it reached 



+ 



the pylorus ; this change of structure is well described 

 and figured by Sir E. Home in his work on Comparative 

 Anatomy. The stomach and intestines of the male tor- 

 toise were filled with grass more or less digested. The 

 female, which lived for some time after being taken from 

 its food, had in its stomach an abundance of mucus, but 

 nothing else ; in the small intestine a quantity of liquid, 

 and in the large intestine grass. 



The Intestines of the male tortoise were about five 

 times the length of the animal, as Blumenbach found in 

 the hawks-bill turtle; the small intestine measuring seven 

 feet three inches in length and five and a half inches 

 transversely, when cut open, the large intestine nine feet*^ 

 in length. In a dissection of the Testudo Inclica (Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society of London, March 

 8th, 1831) the large intestine was found to be nearly 



