MENOPOMA. 387 



Its legs eome out from its sides, somewhat like those of a frog, lizard, 

 or alligator. It has a tail ahove half the length of its body. It is 

 flat sideways, having an upper and under edge, like some water newts, 

 and which is very thin, forming a kind of fin. It has a broad thin flat 

 head, the anterior termination of which is a semicircle. It has small 

 black eyes, which are placed near the anterior edge of the head. The 

 two nostrils are small holes, placed in the anterior part of the edge of 

 the mouth, or upper jaw, and communicate with the mouth at the ter- 

 mination of the second row of teeth, in an oval orifice about y^ths of 

 an inch long. There is no visible external ear. It has no ribs 1 , as the 

 frog. 



The mouth is wide, opening along the whole semicircular sweep of 

 the anterior part of the head, as in the frog, &c. The teeth are two 

 rows in the upper jaw, which are about -j^ths of an inch asunder, and 

 in which space is a sulcus, into which the teeth of the under jaw go. 

 The outer [maxillary] row is continued much further back than the 

 inner [vomerine], making nearly a semicircle, while the inner row 

 makes only a quarter of a eircle. 



The under jaw has but one row, which is continued as far back as 

 the outer upper row ; they may be said to be styliform. The small 

 tongue can hardly be called such, as it hardly projects ; however, it 

 may be made to project a little : it is broad and flat, with cells on its 

 upper part, much like the inside of the stomach of many ruminating 

 animals 2 . 



The oesophagus is wide and short. The stomach and intestines are 

 similar to those in the lizard, frog, toad, &c. 3 The rectum is consider- 

 ably larger than any other part of the intestines, and in the enlarged 

 part was found a good many feathers undigested. The anus is a little 

 slit in the direction of the animal, as in the newt, alligator, &c. 



The liver has nothing remarkable : it is one mass, with the lower end 

 a little forked. The gall-bladder lies between the bifurcations of the 

 lower end of the liver ; its ducts are short, and pass into the duodenum 

 as that gut passes up this part. The pancreas lies in the curve or 

 curves of the convolutions of the duodenum. The spleen is a round 

 body placed behind the stomach, and is attached to it by a broad mem- 

 brane or membranes. 



There are two ovaria, one on each side of the spine, pretty loosely 

 attached; they are oblong, and when not prepared for generation 

 appear more like testicles, or the ovaria of the quadruped than of the 



[They are short and straight, like transverse processes.] 

 [Hunt. Prep. Phys. Series, No". 1450.] 3 [lb. No. 654.] 



2c2 



