of the Galapagos Tortoise 



453 



extremities, but in the intermediate portion it was consid- 

 erably less ; the fibres, wherever observed, were trans- 

 verse; for the first five or six inches of the large intestine 

 it measured from six to seven lines in thickness, was 

 quite firm and had a shining white fascia external to it, 

 such as was seen in the stomach ; it was generally about 

 as thick as in the small intestine, but in the rectum it 

 again became thicker. The coecal valve was well devel- 

 oped and made up of all the tissues. 



The Liver was an immense "organ and consisted main- 

 ly of three lobes, one on the right which was subdivided 

 into two, and one on the left which was entire. In the 

 male tortoise it weighed fourteen and a quarter pounds 

 (avoird.) In the female the weight was not ascertained, 

 but the dimensions were as follows : — Transverse diame- 



r 



ter of the two right lobes taken together eighteen inches, 

 and of the left twelve inches ; antero-posterior diameter 

 of the two right lobes eleven inches^ and of the left four- 

 teen inches ; the greatest thickness, which was rather 

 more than two inches, w^as in the posterior part of the 

 organ ;— towards the anterior edge it became much thin- 

 ner and more irregular (in these measurements the animal 

 is supposed to be in its natural position upon the under 

 shell) ; inferior face quite smooth and regular- Tlie lobes 

 on the right side united with the one on the left superiorly 

 and anteriorly, by a thin slip of the same substance two 

 inches wide. The organ is uniform in its texture, soft 

 to the feel and of a very faint pink color, mottled with 

 grey ; there was no exudation of fat upon the recent cut 



■ 



surface, as we were led to expect from the description by 

 Capt. Porter, but there is a considerable quantity of it 

 upon a specimen which is preserved in spirit in the Cabi- 

 net of the Society. The gall-bladder was situated towards 



