NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 93 



average weight of the Brain in different races of Mankind," by Jos. 

 Barnard Davis, rej^orted in favor of its publication in the Journal. 



On favorable report of the Committees, the following papers were 

 ordered to be published : 



A Beview af the species of the FLETHODONTID^ and DESUOGNATHIO^. 



BY E. D. COPE, A, M. 



Family PLETHODONTID^. 



Gra,y Catalogue Batrachia Gradieatia Brit. Mus. 1850, 31. Exclusive of the 

 Amblystoma and Desmognathus. 



Plethodontidffi Cope, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phil., 1866, 105. 



Spelerpirue Cope, Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. 1859, 123. 



Plethodontidse, Bolitoglossidae and Hemidactyliidse, Hallowell, Journ. Ac. 

 N. Sci. Phil., 1858, 338, 339. 



No anterior axial bone ; palatines not prolonged over parasphenoid; bearing 

 teeth on the posterior portion. No postorbital arch. 



Dentigerous plates on the parasphenoid. 



Carpus and tarsus cartilaginous. 



Verlebrffi amphicoelian. 



Occipital condyles sessile. 



Prefrontals present, pterygoids wanting. 



Prefrontals not prolonged or embracing frontals ; parietals slightly embrac- 

 ing. 



Orbitosphenoids separated by membrane from prootic. 



Vestibule, inner wall osseous. 



The preceding diagnosis includes the characters assigned to the family by 

 the writer in 1866, excepting one, i.e. the presence of the premaxillary fonta- 

 nelle, which I find to be wanting in the genus Stereochila m. 



In the characters of the scapular and pelvic arches this family does not dif- 

 fer from the Amblystomidie and Salamandridse. The foramen which separates 

 the coracoid from the procoracoid is well marked and intermarginal : in the 

 Amblystomida; it is smaller, and in the Salamandridae marginal. The femur 

 always presents a strong trochanter ; it is weak in Stereochila marginata. 

 In Uemisalamandra and Diemyctylus it is quite weak, but in Salamandra 

 strong. 



la most of the genera of this family the enamel does not cover the entire 

 crown of the tooth. In Spelerpes rubra, longicauda and b e 1 1 i i, and 

 Plethodon glutinosus and c i n e r e u s, the external part of the crown 

 terminates in a transverse cutting edge, while the inner extremity is more pro- 

 longed, leaving a transverse depression between the two. In Sp. bell i i, the 

 inner apex is transverse and prolonged a little beyond the external, while in 

 the other Spelerpes and the Plethodon glutinosus the inner crown ii 

 more prolonged and incurved conic. In P. erythronotus it is a little 

 more obtuse. In Desmognathus and the Amblystomidie the two apices are 

 of equal height, and are both transverse cutting edges, the outer narrowed 

 in the former. In the larvai of Plethodontidse that I have examined, the 

 crowns are more simple. The teeth of Anaides are more like those of the 

 Coecilia or of Hylonomus of the coal measures, and distinguish the genus from 

 •other Plethodonlidffi.* 



This family is more remote in its skeletal characters from the Salamandridae 

 and Pleurodelidae, than is the Amblystomidae. Thus the absence of parasphe- 

 noid brushes, the ossification of the tarsus and carpus, and the j)ersiste"nce of 

 the pterygoid bones are characters common to the two latter, and wanting in 



♦See Proceed. Acad. N. Sci. Phila., 1859, 124. 



1869.] 



