NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 181 



agrees with Bufo in the fully developed frontoparietal bones, differing from 

 Epidalea (Bufo c a 1 a m i t a Auct.) and Pseudophryne in this respect. 



Pbyllomedusa dacnicolor. 



Parotoids exceedingly weak, if present. Fingers very slightly, toes one-third 

 webbed. Labial margin projecting, profile sloping. Tympanum one-half 

 orbit. Eyes not very prominent, transparent, inferior palpebra reticulated with 

 white veins. Mandibular outlines straight. Tongue long, pyriform, openly 

 emarginate posteriorly. Skin above smooth ; inferior areolations not extend- 

 ing on pectoral or gular regions. Vomerine teeth in two straight transverse 

 rows between anterior margin of inner nares. A few small pustules on ante- 

 rior part of sides, which are yellow, like the inferior surfaces. Superior sur- 

 faces (narrowly on femur,) violet blue. Upper lip not light bordered ; gular 

 region and posterior faces of femora immaculate. From end of muzzle to 

 posterior border of tympanum 10 lines: from angle to angle of mandible 1 in. 

 1 1. ; end of muzzle to vent 3 in. 6 1. ; anterior extremity 2 in. ; posterior limb 

 3 in. 10 1. 



Hab. Near Colima ; from the large Xantusian Coll. 



This species diverges widely from the type of Phyllomedusa in its webbed 

 toes and almost absent glands, but the glands are only a little stronger in the 

 P. a z urea. It affords an easy passage to the true Hylae, whose family it en- 

 ters, by the genus Agalychnis Cope. The type of the latter is Hyla c a 1 1 i- 

 d r y a s Cope, and H. m o r e 1 e t i i and holochlora are the other species. 

 They have the tongue long and extensively free, sometimes emarginate, and 

 the transparent inferior palpebra reticulated with strong white veins. The 

 inner toes are remarkably lengthened and free of movement. 



On the Limits and Relations of the RANIFORMES. 



BY E. D. COPE. 



Similar relations to those which exist between the mammalia Implacentia- 

 lia and the remainder of the class, and vice-versa, are apparently repeated in 

 other groups of greater or less rank in the animal kingdom. Among the 

 tortoises, the Pleurodera separate themselves most strongly by the union of 

 their ischia with the plastron, the absence of the arch of the o. prefrontale 

 which elsewhere descends to the o. palatinum, or vomer, and their intergular 

 shield ; while they present modifications among themselves characteristic 

 of most of the other families, arranging themselves according to the develop- 

 ment of the parieto-mastoid arch, in an ascending series, which terminates 

 in Bothremys and Podocnemys, where the temporal fossa is entirely roofed 

 in, as in the sea turtles. In the Lacertilia Acrodonta we have a group 

 equally removed from others of the order. The acrodont dentition, the great 

 development of the o. dentale and final extinction of the o. operculare, etc., 

 and the exclusion of the premaxillare from contact with the vomer, are pecu- 

 liarities not found associated in other lizards, while their parallel representa- 

 tion of the groups of the Iguauida? at least, among the Pleurodonta, is well 

 known. In general these also form an ascending series to be measured by 

 the gradual extinction of the o. premaxillare* and o. columellum, which 

 finally occurs in Chamaeleo. 



The Raniformes among Batrachia Salientia are in many respects compara- 

 ble to the Acrodonta. They stand at the head of their order, possessing the 

 most compact, powerful and complete organization, and in spite of the con- 

 stant imitation of the many lower types, their is a certain homogeneity in 

 important points. The structure of the sternum separates them at once, and 



* This bone, said to be single in Lacertilia, is divided iu all the true Scincidae, in Phyllurus 

 among the Geceotidse, and, according to Owen, in Hatteria. 



1864.] 



