G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 205 



If pressed or pinched it moved by turning or leaping, but re- 

 mained motionless in its new attitude. In the condition re- 

 ferred to it did not croak spontaneously, but this could easily 

 be induced by rubbing the back gently with the moistened 

 finger, which seemed to produce a croak or grunt of satisfac- 

 tion. The equilibrium of the body was readily maintained 

 by the mutilated frogs. When placed upon a book which 

 sloped gradually, they would crawl to the upper edge, and 

 rest and hug themselves to it with their fore feet, this ma- 

 noeuvre being repeated every time that the inclination of the 

 slope was changed. A healthy frog, in a like case, would of 

 course have immediately leaped to the ground. The move- 

 ments of a frog deprived of the brain differ from those of a 

 healthy frog in being executed mechanically, and with a con- 

 stant regularity. It is inferred from these interesting experi- 

 ments that the nervous centres of voice, and the power of 

 keeping the equilibrium, reside not in the brain, but in the 

 cerebro-spinal axis. 3 J?, July 21, 525. 



NEW SPECIES OF SIEBOLDIA IX CHIXA. 



The interesting announcement has been made to the Acad- 

 emy of Sciences in Paris of the discovery in Western China 

 of a new species of giant salamander {Sieboldia davidiana), 

 closely resembling in general character the well-known spe- 

 cies of Japan, but differing in several important points. These 

 consist principally in the less confluent character of the tu- 

 bercles on the surface of the head and anterior portion of the 

 body, and their greater degree of regularity, forming regular 

 lines, with well-marked figures. The eye is inclosed in a 

 double range of tubercles, which, on the internal face, become 

 angular like a very open V, while in the Japanese species the 

 tubercles present only a confused arrangement. The Chinese 

 animal, too, appears to have the fingers and toes a little lon- 

 ger in proportion, and the general color of the body darker. 

 It lives on the frontier of the Celestial Empire, in the clear 

 and limpid waters which descend from the mountains of the 

 Khou-kou-noor, where it reaches enormous dimensions, some 

 specimens having been met with weighing from fifty to sev- 

 enty pounds. 3 B, 12, July 20, 662. 



