84 APODA OR COECILIAE CHAP. 



remnants in the Lower Miocene of France and Germany. But 

 fairly complete specimens of large creatures, much resembling 

 Cryptobranchus, have been found in the Upper Miocene of 

 Oeningen, Canton Solothurn, Switzerland. The first known 

 specimen, now at Haarlem, indicating a total length of 3 feet or 

 more, was described and figured in the year 1726 by Scheuchzer, 

 in a learned dissertation entitled " Homo diluvii testis." 



Betriibtes Beingeriist von einem alten Siinder 

 Erweiche Herz und Sinn der neuen Bosheitskinder. 



Which may be rendered as follows : 



Oh, sad remains of bone, frame of poor Man of sin 

 Soften the heart and mind of sinful recent kin. 



This was the motto attached to the illustration, and it remained 

 a warning to mankind until Cuvier declared the skeleton to be 

 that of some large newt. Tschudi named it Andrias scheuchzeri, 

 but it is scarcely generically distinct from Cryptobranchus, being 

 almost intermediate between C. alleghaniensis and G. japonicus, 

 see p. 97. 



SUB-CLASS II. LISSAMPHIBIA. 

 Amphibia without dermal armour. 



Order I. APODA or LIMBLESS AMPHIBIA. 



The Amphibia Apoda, Coeciliae or Gymnophiona, are a small 

 group of worm-shaped, burrowing creatures, restricted to the 

 Neotropical and Palaeotropical regions, excluding Madagascar. 

 They have no limbs and no girdles. The tail is extremely 

 short ; the vertebrae are pseudo-centrous, and most of them 

 carry rather long ribs, none of which, however, meet to form a 

 sternum. The whole snake-like body is covered with a smooth 

 and slimy skin which forms numerous transverse folds or rings. 



The most remarkable feature of the skull is its solid com- 

 pactness, which stands in direct correlation with the burrowing 

 habits of these creatures. The whole dorsal surface of the 

 cranium is practically roofed in by bone, so that, in this respect, 

 it greatly resembles that of the Stegocephali ; but this resemblance 

 is produced chiefly by a broadening of those bones which exist 



