CISTUDO EUROP./EA. 357 



[Family PALUDINOSA, Box-tortoises, Terrapenes. 



Genus Cistudo.] 



The [Freshwater Box-] Tortoise, from Germany [Cistudo 

 europcea, Flem. ; Emys lutraria, Lac. 1 ] . 



This tortoise is about 6 inches long, and wide in the usual propor- 

 tion, with a rather convex shell, although not so much so as in the 

 South American tortoise \_Testudo tabulata]. The tail of the male is 

 much longer than that of the female ; it is about three inches long. 

 The female turns her tail to the right side. The anus is continued 

 obliquely along the base of the tail in both, but further in the male, as 

 his tail is longer ; and, at last, forms there a kind of groove. When 

 they draw in their heads into the shell they throw out some air, from 

 the lungs, which feels very cold to the hand. 



It has a membrana nictitans. 



The abdomen is a complete cavity, there being no attachments be- 

 tween the peritoneum on the fore-part and any of the viscera, excepting 

 where the two anterior venae cavae send off branches to the liver. 

 From this circumstance, does the yolk enter the abdomen in the foetus 

 as in the chick and crocodile ? 



The stomach passes across the body along with the lower surface of 

 the liver, having a part of that viscus projecting into the hollow curve, 

 which answers to the lobulus Spigelii : on the right it terminates in the 

 pylorus. The hollow curve of the stomach is closely attached to the 

 liver before the lobulus Spigelii, by a membrane and vessels. The great 

 curve is attached likewise to the liver behind this process by a mem- 

 brane which is analogous to the great epiploon ; but this membrane is 

 no broader than the distance [between the parts it connects]. 



The stomach has a glandular part on one side, a little way from the 

 pylorus, with many orifices. The duodenum becomes immediately a loose 

 intestine, continued, as such, into the jejunum and ileum. The small 

 intestine is very short, and gradually passes to the left along the mesen- 

 tery, and terminates in the caecum which lies nearly in the middle of 

 the abdomen. From the caecum is immediately formed the rectum ; 

 for we cannot say there is any colon. The rectum terminates in the 

 [cloaca] ?. The anus [cloacal outlet] is cut off obliquely, so as to form a 

 groove under the tail. 



1 [The shell of this box-tortoise is No. 996, Hunt. Osteol. Series. It is the species 

 described in the beautiful anatomical monograph by Bojanus, ' Anatorne Testudinis 

 Europe*,' 1819—1821, fol.] 



