HYNOBIIDAE. 521 



length; palms and soles and under surfaces and tips of fingers and toes 

 covered with thickened horny epidermis; tail longer than body, cylin- 

 drical at base, flattened gradually to tip, last half very flat; vent more 

 or less cross-shaped, anterior edges swollen; vomerine teeth 5 in series, 

 beginning well in and back from the very small nares, series extending 

 inwards in slight curve, separated from its fellow by its own length; 

 olive, indistinctly marbled with black, lighter below, anterior lips of 

 vent white. 



Variation: A male M. C. Z. No. 2848, Liang-ho-ko, western Sze- 

 Chuan, referred with some doubt to this species, differs in having 14 

 costal grooves; appressed toes overlapping; head width 5 in length 

 from snout to vent ; head length 3 in length of body ; eye longer than 

 its distance from tip of snout; labial folds less developed; no horny 

 skin on palms and soles (but limbs in poor preservation) ; tail shorter 

 than body, cylindrical at base, somewhat flattened distally, a dorsal 

 keel on distal third; vomerine teeth 4-5 in series, beginning in from 

 hind edge of nares, running forward and in to level of anterior edge 

 of nares; vent opening at front end of a longitudinal groove, as in 

 male Hynobius, this groove does not open into the vent, which is star- 

 shaped, and formed by the confluence of seven grooves. Brownish 

 gray, speckled with black above, and mottled with black below. 



In two females, U. S. N. M. Nos. 64419 and 64421, from Mt. Omei 

 the vomerine teeth are as in the described male, running forward and 

 in instead of transversely, but reaching only to the level of the 

 middle of the nares. 



In a fourth female, U. S. N. M. No. 10995, a cotype, probably from 

 Moupin, Sze-Chuan, the teeth are transverse as in the specimen first 

 described, but the series is separated from its fellow by one-half 

 its length. 



In this connection, Guenther (1896) says "In very young specimens 

 the palatine teeth are placed somewhat differently from the mature 

 condition, and form two oblique series extending beyond the level of 

 the choanae." Bedriaga (1898) figures this condition. 



The tail is shorter than the body in four of the five adults I have seen. 



The appressed toes touch in No. 10995, and in it the vent is a slit. 



A larva, U. S. N. M. No. 64422 from Mt. Omei, has dorsal fin to 

 middle of back; the foot coverings are perfectly distinct; black above, 

 somewhat lighter below. 



