316 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1899. 



LEUKOGNATHUS MAEMORATA, A NEW GENUS AND SPECIES OF 

 SALAMANDER OF THE FAMILY DESMOGNATHID^. 



BY J. PERCY MOORE. 



The family Desmognathidse was established by Prof. Cope for 

 the American genus Desmognathus, of which four species are now 

 known. Boulenger associated with Desmognatkm the Mexican 

 genus Thorlus (which Cope had regarded as constituting a distinct 

 family), a view which was later accepted by Cope. Stejneger has 

 added a third genus, Typhloiriton, an interesting blind salamander 

 which occurs in the caves of Missouri. 



Among some salamanders collected by me in the mountains of 

 North Carolina are three specimens of a fourth genus which is now 

 described. 



LETJROGNATHUS gen. nov. 



With the osteological characters of the Desmognathidse ; vertebra 

 opisthocoelous ; carpus and tarsus cartilaginous; snout very fiat, 

 broad and depressed; palate not at all vaulted, but very flat and 

 smooth ; premaxillary bones completely coossified, not perforated by 

 a fenestra; internal nares widely separated, much further apart 

 than external nostrils; lungless. These characters are exhibited 

 in the figures of the skull, Plate XIV, figs. 4, 5, 6 and 10. 

 Leurognathus marmorata sp. nov. 



Diagnosis. — Palatine teeth entirely wanting; thirteen costal 

 grooves between the axilla and the groin ; appressed limbs fail to 

 meet by the width of about two costal interspaces; body stout, 

 depressed; tail finned, its length about five- elevenths of entire 

 length; digits well developed; color buff or ashy, marbled with 

 black. 



Description of male type. — Form rather robust, body depressed, 

 widest in middle, but becoming nearly quadrate at the inserl ion of 

 the hind legs, where the width becomes considerably reduced 

 ventrally, while a thick welt overhangs the bases of the thighs 

 dorsally. A distinct median dorsal groove extends from the occi- 

 put to the base of the tail, meeting the successive pairs of costal 



