356 Mr. J. Hogg on the Existence of 



proposed according to the form of the animals^ which are 

 there just so separated as the Serpents, Lizards, Crocodiles, 

 and Tortoises are in the division of the Amphibia squamata.'^ 



Now the species of Ccecilia there described by Prof. J. Miil- 

 ler is the C hypocyanea of Van Hasselt, which was so named 

 on account of its pale blue colour along the under part of its 

 body ; it is synonymous with what Linnaeus names C. gluti- 

 nosa, and what Wagler calls Epicrium Hasseltii, and is a na- 

 tive of Ceylon as w ell as Java. 



But it is remarkable that, although nearly ten years have 

 transpired since this discovery took place, no mention is made 

 of it in any English work on Natural History* with which I 

 am acquainted ; except indeed in Dr. Grant^s last Part (VL) 

 of his ' Outlines of Comparative Anatomy,' published in the 

 latter part of 1840, where (at p. 551) he has given an ex- 

 tremely short notice of it under the head of ' Organs of Re- 

 spiration.* 



The presence of branchiae then, in the Ccecilia in its young 

 state, obliges me to modify, in some degree, the classification 

 which I had instituted four years ago for the Amphibia, and 

 which is given in the ^ Magazine of Natural History,' new 

 series, vol. iii. pp. 265, 367. For this purpose, my Order L 

 Abranchia must be entirely removed, since it is now clearly 

 proved that every genus of the Amphibia is furnished, either 

 at the first period of existence with some kind of branchial 

 apparatus which is afterwards exchanged for a pulmonary 

 one, or else with both sorts of apparatus during the entirety 

 of life. 



The late discovery of Miiller has decided — what indeed the 

 appearance of the hyoid bones in the adult Caecilians had given 

 reason previously to suspect — namely, the former existence of 

 branchial apertures with gills or branchial fringes, and a sub- 

 sequent metamorphosis as to these organs, in the CcBciliadaf. 

 Wherefore the true place to be assigned to this family in the 

 branchial classification is, among the Caducibranchia, or 

 those Amphibia whose gills decay at an early period ; although 

 from that able Professor's description it appears that the gills 

 themselves, or the fringes, are concealed within the branchial 

 apertures, and do not hang out of, or project from, those aper- 

 tures, as they do in the other families of the Caducibranchia. 



* 1 fully expected to have seen these hranchice described in the account 

 of the Caciliavs at p. 285 of Cuvier's 'Animal Kingdom,' translated by 

 Messrs. Blyth, Mudie, Johnston and Weslwood, particularly as its preface 

 says — " the present edition embodies all the discoveries of more recent na- 

 turalists," and which has only just been published; but I was disappointed. 



\ See my paper in Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. iii. N. S. p. 368. 



