398 



REPTILIA. 



that on the left side is short, and ends abruptly as if cut off. The gall- 

 bladder lies in a fissure on the left side of the liver, near its middle ; 

 there is no hepatic duct ; but the hepato-cystie ducts, which seem to be 

 three in number, enter the gall-bladder at its anterior side or fundus. 

 The cystic duct passes out from the posterior end, and terminates in 

 the gait, about half an inch from the pylorus 1 . 



The spleen is a very long small body ; its anterior or upper end is 

 attached to the upper or posterior surface of the stomach, and it is con- 

 tinued back or down along the left side of the mesentery, to which it 

 adheres nearly as low as the lower part of the belly. 



Below, or before, the rectum lies a long bag like a bladder. It adheres 

 all along to the inside of the abdominal muscles. At its mouth it opens 

 into the rectum, having no urethra. This bag is s imil ar to that in the 

 toad, frog, &c, and is not the bladder of urine. 



The kidneys lie at the hinder part of the belly above the rectum. 

 They are loose before and behind, only attached by their inner edges 

 and lower end to the termination of the belly. They receive their 

 vessels by their inner edges ; at the fore-end they terminate in a point 

 close to the back. 



The ovaria are two, one on each side, about 4 inches in length, thickest 

 at the middle, becoming smaller to a point at each end. They lie below 

 the hinder end of the lungs ; their hinder end is attached to the fore 

 end of the kidneys ; from thence to the fore -end by a thin and pretty 

 broad mesentery to the common attachment of the intestines, lungs, &c. 

 They are of a yellow colour, plainly granulated, some of which granules 

 are black : the external surface is smooth. They are a hollow bag from 

 end to end, having the small ova attached to its inner surface, which 

 makes it irregular, as in the toad. 



There are two oviducts, as in the snake, toad, <fcc. They seem to run 

 along the back on each side, as far as the anterior part of the belly : 

 they are a little contracted where the turns are pretty sharp. They 

 begin at the anterior part of the abdomen by a thin membrane, which 

 is, at its anterior part, fixed to the pericardium laterally, and, about an 

 inch from this, is the [abdominal slit or] opening, as it were, on the 

 other edge. From this the duct runs back, towards the posterior part 

 of the belly, increasing a little in sfze, and when near the back part, it 

 runs pretty straight ; when as far back as the kidneys it attaches itself 

 to either edge, runs along that edge to the anus, where it opens in the 

 anus by a little rising or protuberance; which protuberance is sur- 

 rounded by a doubling of the gut, making a valvular appearance 2 . 



i [Hunt, Preps. Phys. Series, Nos. 796, 797.] 



2 [Hunt. Preps. Nos. 2695, 2696, showing the short transverse folds of the oviducts. ] 



