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Show 468 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE [Apr. 19, the median epigastric vein; the cleft runs obliquely forward a little further than the point where the reflexed falciform ligament ends. The left lobe of the liver is furthermore marked by a longitudinal furrow extending nearly as far forward as a, transverse seam running across the liver. This seam supports a very short and delicate membrane which does not reach the ventral parietes. It is figured by Butler as running obliquely, which is not the case in my specimen. Butler does not discuss the homology of this membrane. It seems to me to be a vestige of the left half of the double falciform ligament that occurs in Seps and Tiliqua. The liver as a whole is considerably narrower than that of either Iguana or Varanus. The prolongation along the vena cava of the lateral lobe of the right liver perforates the " diaphragm." The falciform ligament of the liver is single save for the rudiment of the left ligament already referred to. Posteriorly it is continuous with the posthepatic septum. Anteriorly it can be seen (see text-fig. 97) to be continuous with a fold of membrane, Text-fig. 97. Dissection of thoracic cavity of Tupinambis nigropunctatus, to show relations of prehepatic and posthepatic septa. A, aorta; a, prehepatic septum continuous with falciform or umbilical ligament • II, ventricle of heart; L, left lung; Liv, liver; ce, oesophagus • S posthepatic septum ; Sc, subclavian artery of left side; St, stomach ; II, falciform or umbilical ligament which has been cut longitudinally and the liver pushed to the right The thick black line represents the line of the ventral parietes cut longitudinally to the right of the attachment of the umbilical ligament; U\ rudimentary left umbilical ligament; V, median epigastric especially well developed on the left side of the body, which curves upwards and reaches the middle dorsal line of the parietes This lies well behind the heart and at the level of about the middle of the lung. In its course it curves backwards both dorsally and ventrally, and its line of attachment to the parietes is therefore convex anteriorly. |