CROCODILIA. 337 



one the animal has ; for the upper surface of the liver, with the superior 

 tendon, adheres to the pleura, which is very thin ; so that the liver is 

 properly the diaphragm, and is at the posterior part in contact with the 

 lungs. As, however, the inferior lamella is the strongest and goes to 

 the oesophagus and to the vessels that pass upon the back, this, there- 

 fore, is most properly the diaphragm ; but if we consider this as the 

 diaphragm, we must consider the liver as in the thorax. In respiration 

 the liver must be moved downwards, which will increase the cavity of 

 the thorax. 



The situation of the liver is much as in the human, and, as in the 

 human, it does not go quite to the posterior part of the loins, where the 

 spleen lies. 



Of the (Esophagus. — The oesophagus passes through the thorax, and, 

 when got below the left lobe of the liver, it immediately dilates into 

 the stomach ; but it passes principally through the membranous part 

 that connects the liver to the posterior parts, or that membrane we 

 spoke of above. 



Stomach. — The stomach is pretty large, roundish, and lies much in 

 the place of that in the human subject ; it is about as strong as an 

 eagle's, and has a middle tendon, on each side, about the breadth of a 

 shilling, and all the fleshy fibres passing to it. Very near the opening 

 of the oesophagus is the pylorus ; but the stomach has, there, a little 

 swell or another small stomach or cavity, and from thence the duo- 

 denum begins \ In the stomach of one I had sent me from Jamaica, 

 I found the whole of the feathers of a bird, with a few of the bones, 

 but I could not make out what bird it was. The most curious circum- 

 stance was the bones having lost all their earth, exactly similar to a 

 bone that has been long steeped in an acid, just the contrary to what 

 might have been expected. 



They do not regurgitate the insoluble and indigestible part of the 

 food, as do the owls, eagles, <fcc. There were stones in the stomach of 

 considerable size, larger, e. g., than the end of a man's thumb; there 

 were also the seeds of some vegetable. The question is, how did he 

 catch the bird ? Was the bird swimming on the water ? and did he dive 

 under the bird, and come up under him and catch him ? Or was the 

 bird asleep in the night ? Mr. Home says it was probably a pigeon ; 

 for; whenever a pigeon is shot and falls near them, they immediately 

 catch and swallow it. One would be induced to suppose that birds 

 were their favourite food ; for one that I had sent me from the West 

 Indies, when I gave him fish he did not touch them, but when I gave 



1 [Hunt. Preps. Phys. Series, Nos. 517, 518.] 



