| OCR Text |
Show 256 MR. ST. GEORGE MIVART ON [Apr. 22, inches. Distance from mid-point between the eyes to end of muzzle . *56 Extreme width of mouth 1*55 Distance from mid-point between the angles of the mouth to the mandibular symphysis *65 Length from angle of mouth to branchial orifice, about .... 1 22 branchial orifice to root of pelvic limb, about.. *72 Proportions. Length of head compared with its breadth at 100 94*10 Height of head compared with its breadth at 100 55*88 of body compared with its breadth at 100 48*82 Breadth of mid-tail to its height at 100 46*66 of body to its length (without head and tail) at 100 33*13 Height of body to its length at 100 16*1 7 Length of tail"to length of body at 100 98*83 Length of pectoral limb to length of body at 100 29*82 Length of pelvic limb to length of body at 100 35*08 MYOLOGY. On removing the skin of my specimen I do not find the fat which, according to Drs. Schmidt, Goddard, and Van der Hoeven *, exists in the hollows at the roots of the limbs in Cryptobranchus. Neither have I found any conspicuous cutaneous muscle or the contrast in colour which those authors have described as existing in the last-named genus between some and others of the muscles, but all are moderately pale in m y specimen. The general muscular investment of the body is, in the tail, divisible into an antero-posterior series of segments corresponding to the division of the vertebral column into vertebrae. In the trunk this divisibility is very obscurely indicated, least so towards the middle of the abdomen, where there are transverse tendinous intersections. The muscular envelope consists of four longitudinal portions separated by four more or less marked linear divisions. The first of these divisions extends backwards from the mid-cranial region to the end of the dorsum of the tail. It is deepest by far in the caudal region of the body, where it is filled up by a very large accumulation of fat. A fibrous membrane extends down from the bottom of this dorsal furrow to the spines and neural arches of the vertebrae, and forms a partition between the dorsal muscular mass of one side and that of the other side. The second antero-posterior linear division extends similarly along the ventral surface of the body from the thoracic region backwards. It is only a deep furrow, however, behind the cloacal aperture; in * Aanteekeningen over cle Anatomie van den Cryptobranchus japonicus door Dr. F. J. J. Schmidt, Dr. Q. J. Goddard, en Dr. J. Van der Hoeven. Natuur-kundige Verhandelingen van de Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappcn te Haarlem. Tweede Verzameling, Negentiende Deel, Eerste stuk, 1862. |
