338 



11EPTILIA. 



him sparrows he swallowed them feathers and all ; but I found he did 

 not throw up the feathers, as the owls do ; but the}' passed through him 

 in part digested. "What was singular, he only ate by fits ; that is, he 

 fasted several days after a good meal, although sparrows were lying by 

 him, and then would eat heartily again. 



This crocodile (Croc, acutus) had five fingers; the ring and little 

 finger had no claw, but terminated in a point, like a snake's tail. 

 [On the hind-foot it had] four toes ; the little toe has also no nail. 



The duodenum passes towards the right side for about 4 inches, and 

 is folded upon itself for more than 2 inches, which fold is continued 

 round its outside, or is again folded upon itself 

 as in the figure. A is the pyloric sac of the 

 stomach: B, the last end of the turn, which is 

 something similar to that in the bird. Thence 

 the intestine passes behind the others, and then 

 downwards, adhering to the posterior parts, as in 

 the human; it then crosses the spine a little 

 below the root of the mesentery and becomes 

 loose, and is smaller and thinner in its coats until 

 within 3 inches of the anus, where it passes 

 down straight and becomes a little larger. There 

 is no caecum, nor does the large gut take the turns 

 of the colon, as in some others. The rectum, about 2 inches from the 

 anus, terminates in a valvular manner like that of a carnivorous bird ; 

 and, before this termination, it passes upon the kidneys and between 

 them. The mesentery is loose and thin ; I could not observe jtny lym- 

 phatic glands, and the intestines are more than four times the length of 

 the animal from nose to anus. 



The spleen is nearly as large as the human, and much of the same 

 shape ; it is of a pale brown, not of the bluish cast that the human 

 spleen has ; it is situated on the right side, below the right lobe of the 

 liver ; its situation there is much the same with that of the human 

 spleen on the left side. Its convex surface is turned towards the abdo- 

 minal muscles, and is as loose as in a foetus. There are no vasa brevia, 

 and there is no connexion with the stomach ; so that the old notion of 

 vasa brevia carrying fluid to the stomach and spleen to keep the stomach 

 warm and to be a balance for the liver, is groundless ; its vessels enter 

 its posterior edge, not at the middle, so that there is no fissure on the 

 inner angle. 



The pancreas is but small and irregular ; it is situated in the folding 

 of the duodenum ; one end of it begins near the pylorus, the duct 

 enters the duodenum at its last turn, as in fowls, and seems to enter 



