64 PROCEEDINGS OP THE ACADEMY OP 



Habitat. Gaboon and Liberia. Three specimens in Mus. Acad, presented by 

 Dr. Henry A. Ford. 



Oen. Remarks. Dumeril and Bibron are evidently in error in placing this ani- 

 mal in the genus Vipera. In Vipera the nostrils are lateral, in Echidna latero- 

 superior. la Vipera ammodytes the rostral plate is very high ; the posterior 

 geneials differ much ; ammodytes has a large supra-ocular ; there is but one row 

 of plates between the supra-labials and the rows of scales which surround the 

 eye ; the scales in ammodytes are long, short in nasicornis. The same may be 

 said of Vipera aspis. Compared with Echidna arietans of the Cape, we find 

 absence of the supra-ocular, two rows between the scales beneath the eye and 

 the supra-labials, and the scales short, like those of nasicornis. The difference 

 in the number of rows of scales between the eyes and the supra-labials consti- 

 tutes a good specific character in serpents belonging to the same genus, but the 

 position of the nostrils and the form of the scales are constant and of generie im- 

 portance.* Echidna nasicornis belongs to the 5th section or suborder of Ophidi- 

 ans in Dumeril and Bibron's arrangement, viz., the Solenoglyphs, (serpents Sole- 

 noglyphes dits Thanatophides,) of which the following are the essential charac- 

 ters: 



" Serpents having teeth in both jaws, of which the anterior supra-maxillariea 

 are alone channelled and perforated by a canal in the length of their base." 



Ord. BATRACHIANS. 



In the synoptical table of the genera of Raniforms, in the 8th volume of Du- 

 meril and Bibron's work, (1841,) but two genera of the 16 there determined are 

 mentioned as having no palatine teeth, viz., Oxyglossus and Leiuperus ; the first 

 with a rhomboidal, the second with an oval tongue, in both entire. In Arthro- 

 leptis, Smith, (Illustrations of South African Zoology, 1849,) the toes are with- 

 out webs. la the Batrachian now under consideration, the most remarkable 

 structure is shown in the tongue, which presents a central pedicel, but is bound 

 down in its anterior half along the middle by cellular tissue, as in the genus 

 Heredia, among the Urodeles recently discovered in California. We pro- 

 pose for this remarkable Batrachian, and which, should this conformation be 

 found to exist in other individuals, would, from the connecting link between 

 the Anourous Batrachia, and the Caducibranchiate Urodeles, the name of 



HETER0GL0S3A. 

 Head nearly as long as the body, and about as long as broad, depressed above, 

 narrow in front ; teeth in the upper jaw small, smaller in front, posteriorly re- 

 curved, sharp-pointed ; nine in the lower jaw ; no palatine teeth; posterior nares 

 Buboval, eustachian foramina small ; tongue suboval, deeply notched posteriorly, 

 attached by a cylindrical pedicel at the centre, entirely free in its posterior half; 

 bound down anteriorly along the middle line by cellular tissue, reaching from 

 the tip to the pedicel, free laterally except at the apex; body short; toes free 

 anteriorly, webbed at their base posteriorly ; tympanum distinct. 



Heteroglossa. Africana, nob. 



Sp. Char. Chocolate brown above, abdomen ash colored ; posterior nares 

 small. 



Description. The head is about as broad as long, triangular in shape, rounded 

 in front, depressed above ; the eyes are of moderate size, not prominent ; the 

 tympanum also of moderate size, quite distinct, is situated immediately over the 

 angle of the jaw ; posterior nares suboval, small ; the fingers are quite free, the 

 first and second of about equal length, the fourth longer than these, the third 

 the longest; sub-articular tubercles distinct; extremities of first and second toes 

 nearly on a line with each other ; third toe longer than second, the fourth much 



* Since the above was written we have received the December number of 

 Guerin (Revue et Magazin de Zoologie, 185G,) in which I find that Prof. A. Du- 

 meril has himself corrected this error. 



[Feb. 



