58 



EFFECTS OF 



THIRST, ETC., ON EMYS SERRATA. 



500 grains of blood contained — 



Moist blood-corpuscles 193.68 5"^'^*'*'^ 



(Solid constituents 



(Water . 



Liquor sanguinis 



306.32 



(Solid constituents 



145.26 

 48.42 



255.21 

 51.11 



Calculated amount of blood consumed during 49 days of thirst and starvation. 



1000 grains. 



Solid constituents in 1000 grains of consumed blood 



" serum of 1000 grains of consumed blood 



1000 grains of consumed blood contained — 

 Water ..... 

 Blood-corpuscles (dried organic constituents) 

 Albumen, fatty and extractive matter 

 Fibrin ..... 

 Fixed saline constituents 



1000 grains of consumed blood contained — 



Moist blood-corpuscles 309.04 • 



(Solid constituents 



Liquor sanguinis 



690.96 



f Water . 



1 Solid constituents 



87.36 

 10.10 



912.64 

 74.85 

 9.80 

 .61 

 3.31 



231.78 

 77.26 



680.86 

 10.10 



The examination of the blood of this male Emys serrata completes the series of 

 experiments upon the influence of starvation and thirst upon the constitution and 

 amounts of blood in these Chelonians. 



A comparison of these analyses with each other, shows that, in every instance, 

 the water of the blood wasted more rapidly than the other constituents. The 

 rapidity of this consumption of the water, and the consequent concentration of the 

 blood, depended, therefore, upon the length of starvation, and the sex of the reptile. 



In females whose ovaries and oviducts were filled with eggs, the anxiety to 

 deposit these, conjoined with their development and nutrition, produced a more 

 rapid consumption of the fat of the body and all the constituents of the blood than 

 in the male. The effects of this anxiety and demand, for the nutrition and devel- 

 opment of the eggs, was manifested also in a more rapid destruction of the nervous 

 and vital forces. 



The females beca^le weak and exhausted, and several died in two or three 

 weeks, whilst the males retained their usual activity and strength up to their 

 destruction or removal to a tub of water, a period of time varying from three weeks 

 to fifty days. 



Tables showing the actual and relative amount of blood, also the actual losses of 

 blood by Yellow-bellied Terrapins [Emys serrata), will be given in conjunction with 

 others of a similar character, after the completion of our investigations upon the 

 changes of the blood of different animals when deprived of all food and drink. 



