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Show 1890.] HELODERMA SUSPECTUM. 231 XIV. A BRIEF SYNOPTICAL RECAPITULATION OF THE MORE SALIENT MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS OF HELODERMA SUSPECTUM, SELECTED FROM THE RESEARCHES SET FORTH IN THE PRESENT MEMOIR. Herpetologists have long been familiar with those topographical characters that are presented on the part of either H. horridum or H. suspectum. Bocourt, in characterizing the group he created to contain these reptiles1, gave them tersely as follows:-"Parties superieures du corps hcrissees de tubercules semi-osseux, disposes sur le tronc et sur la queue en series transversales tres-rapprochees les unes des autres. Plaques ventrales plates et quadrilaterales. Pas de plicature de la peau formant un sillon le long des flancs. Dents maxillaires appliquees sur le bord interne des machoires et creusees d'une rainure longitudinale assez profonde. Langue non retractile." And for the genus (Heloderma) :-" Tete forte et epaisse. Corps trapu. Membres et doigts courts, a peu pros de meme longueur. Queue arrondie. Ventre protege par des plaques lisses, quadrilaterales, ne formant que des series transversales. Des pau-pieres. Une ouverture auriculaire. Pas de pores femoraux." Essentially, these are the most available characters presented in the form of H. suspectum, and by dissection the following, more deeply situate, are brought to light:- Heloderma suspectum will probably be found to be an oviparous reptile. (1) And it has between the rami of its mandible a mandibularis muscle. (2) With all three pronator muscles present in its forearm. (3) With peculiar longitudinal cones of adipose tissue intercalated with the muscles and the other structures of the tail. (4) With large corpora adiposa. (5) With the horizontal membrane or the visceral layer of the peritoneum present and well developed. (6) With an anastomotic arrangement of the bile and hepatic ducts, and with the same having a peculiar connection with the pancreas (?). (7) With a rather large, pear-shaped, thoroughly isolated spleen present. (S) With a bilobed thyroid gland present and situated just above the heart (?). (9) With the walls of the atria of the heart thin, and with those of the ventricle thick, while the cavity of the latter is small and not divided. (10) With the anterior end of the trachea placed dorsad to the base of the tongue. 1 Sous-Famille.-TRACIIYDEKMI GLYPIIODONTA. |
