APODA. 287 



curved backwards : one lung is larger than the 

 other. 



In these particulars there is a greater or less 

 degree of affinity to the Ophidian forms, and 

 perhaps more particularly to those which present 

 the evanescent characters of the lowest Saurians, 

 as AnguiSf and Typhlops. It must be observed 

 that the two branches of the lower jaw are 

 firmly soldered together in front, and that they 

 are jointed behind immediately on the skull, 

 without the intervention of a bony foot-stalk, 

 in both which particulars they vary from the 

 true Serpents. 



But there are characters of more importance 

 which demand the arrangement of these animals 

 among the Amphihia, notwithstanding all these 

 affinities with a higher type. The first of these 

 is the articulation of the skull to the first vertebra 

 of the spine, by means of two separate and well 

 marked projections {condyles), — a strongly dis- 

 tinctive mark of this Sub-class ; secondly, the 

 vertebrae are hollowed in front and in rear into 

 conical excavations ; and (what is decisive, if 

 it may be depended on) the presence of hran- 

 cMcE, involving a metamorphosis, is "«aid to have 

 been detected in the young. Miiller announced 

 the discovery of branchial apertures in a young 

 CcEcilia hypocyanea preserved in the Museum of 

 Natural History at Leyden. He noticed an 

 orifice a line in wddth on each side of the neck, 

 some distance behind the gape, situated in the 

 yellow stripe which runs down the side, and 

 communicating freely with the mouth. The 

 edge of the hole was rough, and in the interior 

 he observed black fringes, which appeared to 



