REPTILES. 



Eani, DifT. vol. 2 ; and Latreille, Hilloire Natiirelle dcs 

 Salamnndres dc France. 



Penis — The chclonians have one ; moft of tlie i'aurians, 

 and the ophidians, have two ; and the batraciaiis none. There 

 is a papilla in the cloaca, in place of the penis, but jionc in 

 the toad. 



The relative fizeof the organ is more confiderable in the 

 chelonians than in the mammalia and birds. It is long, 

 nearly cylindrical, and expanded at the end, which termi- 

 nates in an obtufe hook-like point, fomewhat refembling 

 the end of the elephant's trunk. A deep groove runs 

 along the whole upper furface of the member, and is even 

 deeper near the glans. It terminates on the broad expanded 

 end of the latter, by an orifice divided into two by a pa- 

 pilla. The approximation of its edges converts this groove 

 into a canal : it fupplies the place of the urethra. This 

 penis is compofed of two corpora cavernol'a, confounded 

 together in a part of its extent. They begin by two vaf- 

 cular fwellings analogous to the bulb of the uretlira : their 

 tidue is continued into two canals, of which the fibrous pa- 

 rietes, at firft thin, foon become very thick, while their cavi- 

 ties diminilh, and are united near the glans into one. The 

 whole large fweUing compofing the glans is merely a deve- 

 lopement of the vafcular tiffue of the latter, covered by a 

 loofe and plaited (kin, and fupported by a prolongation of 

 the fibrous fide of the corpus cavernofum. 



The fkin of the groove is covered by a cavernous tex- 

 ture, analogous to that of the oilrich ; and there is, on 

 each fide of this groove, a canal, the orifice of which is in 

 the cavity of the peritoneum, on each fide of the bladder, 

 while the canal itfelf is prolonged in the fubftancc of the 

 penis, as far as the glans, where it ends in a cul-de-fac, with- 

 out its fides appearing perforated in any part. 



This penis has two retraftor mufcles, arifiug in the pelvis, 

 and reaching as far as the glans. They fold back the 

 penis in the cloaca, fo that, like the penis of the oilrich, it 

 Ihuts the orifice of the reftum,- and that of the bladder. 

 Ereftion, and the aftion of the fphinfter, bring it out of 

 the cavity. 



The penifes of the lizards and ferpents are fliort, cylin- 

 drical, commonly befet with white, hard, and pointed pa- 

 p)illae, which have been tolerably well compared to the 

 prickles of the hedge-hog. Thefe organs, in their collapfed 

 Itate, are drawn within the (l<in of the tail : when ereft 

 they are protruded, and appear at each angle of the ex- 

 ternal flit of the cloaca. They have two retraftor mufcles, 

 arifing under the firll caudal vertebrae. Tyfon has figured 

 the penis of the rattlcfnake and viper in the Philof. Tranf. 

 V. 13, tab. I ; and the latter is minutely defcribed by 

 Charas. 



The penis of the crocodile is fingle, and lodged in a fold 

 of the anterior part of the cloaca. It is compofed of a 

 firm cartilaginous fubttance, terminated by a glans of fofter 

 texture. It is excavated in its whole length by a deep groove. 

 It has a very large retratlor mufcle, which is fo confiderable 

 as even to caufe a fwelling of the tail. 



In the faurian reptiles, as in the frog and falamanders, the 

 male fixes himfelf on the female, and obliges her to turn 

 towards him the polterior part of her body, and a real copu- 

 lation enfues. 



The aft is differently accomplilhed in the ferpents : the 

 male and female twine round each other, are clofely con- 

 nefted by feveral turns, and remain thus adherent for one or 

 two hours. Is the fmall horny fpur, fituated on each fide 

 of the anus in the bose, and retraftile under the (kin, em- 

 ployed at all by the ferpent as an organ of prehenfion, like 

 the cutaneous tubercles of the hand of the ranse I The 



faurians and ferpents conceal themfelves carefully (ot this 

 purpofe. 



Although the chelonian reptiles feem fo little calculated 

 for copulation, this procefs takes place in them, the male 

 fixing himfelf to the female by attaching the nails of his 

 front limbs to the foft (Icin of^ her neck. Naturalifts are 

 ilill uncertain, whether turtles are joined pladroii to plaf- 

 tron, as Lacepcde has affcrted in his Natural Hiftory of 

 Oviparous Quadrupeds, or whether the male mounts on the 

 back of the female, as Bomare has reprefented it in his Dic- 

 tionnaire d'Hiftoirc Naturclle. From the word cavalage, 

 employed by the French mariners to denote this union, we 

 may infer that they copulate like the frogs : the exprefTlon 

 denotes clearly that the male is mounted on the female as the 

 fi.alIion is on the marc fcavale). Catefby, in his Natural Hif- 

 tory of Carolina, alTcrts that they remain united for many 

 days. 



Female Organs of Generation. — Reptiles have two ovaries, 

 ufually much more confiderable than the Cnglc ovary of birds. 

 For moll of the year thefe bodies are fmall : but they ac- 

 quire, at the propagating fcafon, an extraordinary develop- 

 ment, and thus dillend the abdomen very remarkably. This 

 is particularly obfervable in the frog kind. 



In autumn and winter, fays Spallanzani, the imma- 

 ture eggs lie all in the ovarium, which is divided into two 

 lobes : thefe lobes confift of leffer lobes, each of which is 

 inverted with a peculiar membrane. The eggs are of two 

 fizes ; fome very fmall, fo as to be fcarcely viiible with the 

 naked eye ; others feven or eight times larger ; both kinds 

 are globular. The fmaller are of a livid grey colour : of 

 the larger one hemifphere is white, the other black. The 

 flightell touch is fufficient to burll them, after which they 

 are refolved into a cineritious vifcid liquor. (Difl'erta- 

 tions, V. I. J 4.) The black fpots of the furface, fup- 

 pofcd by Valifneri and others to be the rudiments of the 

 tadpole, are attached to the internal membrane, and have 

 no conneftion with the eggs. In the fpring the eggs of 

 the largeft kind are ftill larger, and they are mature when 

 copulation takes place. In the firft periods of copulation, 

 they are found in the fac of the ovarium ; during the fuc- 

 ceeding times, partly in the ovarium and partly in the ovi- 

 dufts, where they become enveloped by their covering of 

 vifcid tranfparent mucilage. 



The ovaria of the falamander contain a multitude of 

 httle eggs of a yellowifh-white colour, fmaller than hulked 

 millet, and not floating loofe in the cavity of the ovaria, 

 but adhering to their fides. Thefe increafe in fize at the 

 approach of fpring. 



The ovaria are connefted to two long produftions of 

 peritoneum, which are fixed en each fide of the fpine down 

 to the pelvis. The ova are ranged along the loofe edge of 

 this fold, either in a fingle row, as in the chelonians, or 

 agglomerated in a much larger number, as in the batracians. 

 Their blood-veffels extend between the lamina? of thefe 

 membranous produftions. In the batracians there are 

 yellow fatty appendages to the ovaries, like thofe of the 

 tellicles. 



In the ferpents, like all their other vifcera, they partake 

 of the elongated figure of the body. The ova, confiding 

 of yellow veficles, referable rows of beads. 



Oviduds. — There are two in all reptiles, like their ovaries. 

 They are membranous canals, fixed on each fide of the ver- 

 tebral column by a produftion of peritoneum. They com- 

 mence by an expanded orifice (fimbriated opening of the Fal- 

 lopian lube in mammalia), at which the ova enter. The tube is 

 firit conical, dimini{hing a little in fize ; then it is cylindrical 

 in the rell of its courfe, which has a much greater propor- 



4 tional 



