CHELONIA. 753 



distinct tendency to form a second palatal ridge, as in ^. baska, but it is very feebly 

 developed. 



There is also a character furnished by the lower jaws by which B. lineata 

 can be separated from B. duvaucelli. In the latter, there is a narrow simple surface 

 behind the ridge corresponding to the ridge of the upper jaw ; but in B. lineata this 

 surface is distinctly broader anteriorly, and is marked by two short longitudinal 

 ridges at its anterior part. 



There are twenty -three caudal vertebrae, in the first three of which the 

 transverse processes are only rudimentary, but appear suddenly in the fourth, 

 attaining their maximum in the sixth, and disappearing in the fourteenth. 



The tongue, small and triangular^ is grooved by a longitudinal sulcus. The sides 

 of the laryngeal orifice are protected by a serrated ridge of mucous membrane, 

 and the two ridges meeting behind are prolonged backwards as a serrated ridge for 

 about one inch and a half. Behind the tongue, the oesophagus, for about three 

 inches, is thrown into longitudinal folds of rather large flattened papillae. The 

 stomach is narrow and tubular, 10 inches in length along the convexity of the 

 curve. Its lower end, for about three inches above the pylorus, is very thick and 

 strong, while that above it, is thin and with a distended sac-like portion behind the 

 termination of the oesophagus. The small intestine, in a female measuring 16 inches 

 in the length of its carapace, was 57'50 inches long, while the large intestine, which 

 is marked at its commencement by a sacular dilatation, was 26 inches long. 



The liver is large compared with that of Batagur haska, and differs from it in 

 several structural details which either indicate that the species are not so nearly 

 alhed as their external appearances would lead one to believe, or imply that the 

 liver is very variable in its form. The ventral section of the right lobe of the 

 liver completely overlaps the longitudinal section of the stomach ; its outer maro-in, 

 which is rather thin and circular, projecting considerably to the left of the 

 stomach. The anterior angle is thick, and there is attached to it dor sally a very 

 restricted portion of peritoneum. The inferior border passes obliquely upwards 

 to the right over the stomach, and between this and the anterior angle, there is 

 first a notch, on a line with the lower border of the transverse connecting lobe, by 

 which the left vena cava enters, and the anterior margin of the notch is formed 

 by a leaf -like lobule wliich passes upwards to the anterior angle, and along which the 

 peritoneum is attached from the notch. The posterior or dorsal lobe of the right sec- 

 tion of the liver is lingulate, and lying behind the bend of the stomach fills up only a 

 restricted portion of the interspace between the two bends of the stomach. Erom the 

 notch in front, a thin band-like process of liver substance depends in the peritoneal 

 attachment. The cystic or right lobe consists of three well-marked portions, the 

 section containing the gall bladder lying between the other two and against the side 

 of the shell. The most ventral section, which is not separated from the cystic by any 

 deep fissure, is quadrangular in its outer aspect, with a long process passing off from 

 its anterior end, vrhile internally there is a smaller triangular process at the base of 

 the former. The whole of the inner margin of the ventral section and anterior border 



t4 



