And some possess appendages (or caeca) to the gut, but no
animal that has not incisors in both jaws has a straight gut.
The elephant has a gut constricted into chambers, so constructed
that the animal appears to have four stomachs; in it the food is
found, but there is no distinct and separate receptacle. Its viscera
resemble those of the pig, only that the liver is four times the
size of that of the ox, and the other viscera in like proportion,
while the spleen is comparatively small.
Much the same may be predicated of the properties of the
stomach and the gut in oviparous quadrupeds, as in the land
tortoise, the turtle, the lizard, both crocodiles, and, in fact, in
all animals of the like kind; that is to say, their stomach is one and
simple, resembling in some cases that of the pig, and in other cases
that of the dog.
The serpent genus is similar and in almost all respects furnished
similarly to the saurians among land animals, if one could only
imagine these saurians to be increased in length and to be devoid of
legs. That is to say, the serpent is coated with tessellated scutes,
and resembles the saurian in its back and belly; only, by the way,
it has no testicles, but, like fishes, has two ducts converging into
one, and an ovary long and bifurcate.
Pages:
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101