The alligator and its alliesReese, A. M. (Albert Moore)
Science
The alligator and its allies
Reese, A. M. (Albert Moore)
Alligators
The _Harderian gland_ is much larger than the lachrymal gland proper
and is easily found. It lies in the forward part of the eye-socket
and is of a somewhat three-cornered shape. From its outer and forward
base it sends a short, delicate duct to open between the nictitating
membrane and the eyeball.
The _lachrymal canal_ is well developed in the Crocodilia. Near the
forward angle of the eye, on the inner side of the lower lid, are found
from three to eight tear dots, lying in a row from behind forward.
Each of these dots opens into a small elongated sac. This sac opens
downwards and forwards into a common canal, which canal, at first
narrow but soon widening, extends for a time parallel to the free
border of the eyelid and then enters the opening in the hinder side of
the lachrymal bone. Rathke found none of these tear dots on the upper
eyelid so concluded that the lachrymal fluid could escape only through
the lower lid. This canal, which might correspond to the lachrymal sac
of higher forms, is rather narrow until it enters the lachrymal bone,
then it becomes considerably wider and forms a sort of reservoir that
Rathke calls the “_saccus naso-lachrymalis_.” This reservoir is of
irregular form and opens forwards into the base of the nasal cavity
proper.
The third type of gland mentioned above, the _conjunctival_, is found
on the lower eyelid where the conjunctiva passes from the lid to the
eyeball. The gland is of a “scattered acinose” type.
The usual muscles of the eyeball are found in the Crocodilia. The four
_rectus_ and two _oblique_ muscles have about the usual arrangement and
are attached to the eyeball by very short aponeuroses. The _retractor
oculi_ muscle is only weakly developed. It consists of two separate
bundles which, lying behind the optic nerve, arise from the forward
bony wall of the socket and are inserted on the sclera very near the
optic nerve.
The _eyeball_ consists of the usual layers, including, as might be
expected from the nocturnal habits of the Crocodilia, a typical
_tapetum lucidum_.
In the _sclera_, instead of the bony ring common to the saurians, is
found a well-developed cartilage covered with the fibrous layer of the
sclera; the fibers of this layer are arranged into two more or less
distinct layers.
While not worked out in detail the _cornea_ consists of the usual five
layers.
In the _iris_ the musculature is less developed than in the birds;
Bronn thinks this may be compensated for by the greater development of
the “vascular structures.”
The _pupil_ is a vertical slit.
The _choroid_ is very closely united on the outside with the sclera; on
the inside it is less closely attached to the retina except at the ora
serrata. It consists of an outer fibrous coat, an inner, unstratified
pigmented epithelium derived embryologically from the pigmented layer
of the retina, and the ground substance which is a network of irregular
and very vascular cells.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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