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Show 1895.] LUNGS OP SNAKES, AMPHISB^ENIDJE, ETC. 695 animals given with greater accuracy and preciseness 1, and have in different places hints that Duvernoy had noticed that it was the rule for the left lung to be rudimentary in Snakes2, much is from our present point of view left vague 3, and there seems to be at least one error *, which is sufficient to prevent him arriving at a correct generalization. (v.) Stannius [(5)] errs in saying that the Ainphisbaenidse agree with a number of other Snake-like Lizards which he mentions in having the left lung reduced [Z. c. p. 206 and note]. As to Snakes, he mentions a number of kinds, and states whether they have more than one lung, but he does not say whether it is the right or left lung that is reduced. (vi.) Milne-Edwards [(6)] gives a resume with references to the literature of the subject. While, however (I. c. p. 308, note), he says that it is the left lung which is the smaller in Pythons, Boas, and Slowworm, and that it is the right which is rudimentary in Amphisbaenidae, at the top of the next page he says (speaking of Snakes) " l'atrophie du poumon porte tantot a droite, tantot a gauche." (vii.) The recognized text-books and encyclopaedic sources of 1 Thus, on p. 37, Duvernoy rightly states that in Csecilians the left lung (not the right, as Meckel had stated) is rudimentary, and on p. 38 gives exact measurements of the two lungs in different species of these Amphibians. On p. 32 he rightly repeats that the left lung of Anguis frag His is the smaller. 2 Thus, I. c. p. 33, after describing the lungs of Eryx turcicus [this should be a synonym of Eryx jaculus, L.], he adds, " Nous verrons dans les details de la structure de ces deux sacs que le gauche respond au poumon rudimentaire des autres Ophidiens." Again, on the same page, he describes the left lung as rudimentary in " l'He-terodon tachete " [Heterodon platyrhinus, Latr.], and, as will be noted below, p. 701, this is a Snake in whose case, if in any, it would be most natural to fall into the error of describing the rudimentary lung as the right. Again on p. 36. After stating that there is no trace of a " second " lung in certain species of Vipera and other Snakes, he adds, " Mais il y a un rudiment du poumon gauche dans VAcanthophis tortor . . ."-a passage which makes one think that though in various places he used the vague expression " deuxieme poumon," he meant "poumon gauche." 3 Thus on p. 32 we are told which lung is the smaller in Pseudopus pallasii [Ophisanrus apus, Pall.], Ophisaurus ventralis, and the Amphisbaenidse. In this 1840 edition of the ' Lecjons,' as in the 1829 edition of the ' Regne Animal,' these snake-like forms are classed with the Snakes, and if, in accordance with the preceding note, we credit Duvernoy with recognizing that it is the left lung which is reduced or absent in Snakes, we must on the other hand note that he fails to remark that the Amphisbsenidse differ from Snakes and other snake-like forms in having the right, and not the left, lung reduced or rudimentary. 4 O n p. 28 we are told that "Bipes lineatus" has " le poumon droit moitie plus court que le gauche." Comparing this note with the corresponding passage of the ' Regne Animal' of 1829 (from which Duvernoy, in a note on p. 37, explains that he is quoting certain other statements), I gather (see ' Regne Animal,' 1829, torn. ii. p. 65) that he refers to Scelotes bipes, L. [Brit. Mus. Cat. Lizards, vol. iii. p. 414]; and if so he is mistaken, for this Lizard is no exception to the general rule, but has the right lung longer than the left. I do not censure Duvernoy for making the not uncommon error of confusing right and left. But this error, to m y mind, discounts the adjoining statement about the lungs of Chirotes, as to which see below, pp. 702 & 703. |