Nova Acta Acad, Coesar, NaturcB Curiosorum, Q55 



sisted on, he declares to be in themselves very unimportant, in- 

 asmuch as they are mainly due to the contraction of the skin by 

 means of the spirit in which the animals are preserved. It U 

 also described as being entirely devoid of scales, but the authour 

 enters into a very minute account of the peculiar manner in 

 which its outer covering is formed, which clearly proves that this 

 also is a mistaken notion. 



A previously unpublished species of Snake, collected during 

 his travels in Brazil, is described by Prince Maximilian of Wied, 

 in a paper '^ Uber Coluber Lichtensfeimiy eine neue Brasili- 

 anische Natter- Art." Its specific characters are thus given: 

 ^' Tail about one-eighth of the whole length; abdominal scuta 

 178-181 ; caudal scuta 85-97 pairs ; colour pale grey-yellowish 

 fawn, with a series of large grey-brown spots, the margins of 

 which are darker, extending along the back, lozenge-shaped in 

 the neck, and more irregular on the rest of the body, each of the 

 latter being connected with two lateral spots ; scuta of the sides 

 of the jaws bordered with black." The length of the body 

 varies from 3 ft. 9 in. to 5 ft. 3 in. and it probably attains a still 

 larger growth. It inhabits the southern localities of the Eastern 

 Coast of Brazil, and is not uncommon in marshy places. Its 

 habits are not so active as those of many of its congeners, and it 

 frequently suffers itself to be approached very nearly without 

 shewing any signs of uneasiness. Toads and frogs appear to 

 form its principal food. It is the C, capistratus of Professor 

 Lichtenstein's Catalogue of the Duplicates of the Zoological 

 Museum at Berlin. 



The " Beitrage zu einer Anatomischen Monographie der 

 Rana Vipa^'' by Dr. Mayer, present the results of an anatomical 

 investigation of three individuals of the Surinam Toad, two of 

 which were male and one female. The paper does not profess 

 to give a complete and perfect anatomy of the animal, which the 

 authour thought quite unnecessary after the able manner in which 

 the subject had been treated by Breyer, Rudolphi, Meckel, and 

 Cuvier. He has therefore confined himself to the illustration of 

 particular facts which had hitherto been left in obscurity, and to 

 the pointing out and correcting such of the statements of former 



