HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 3 



Suborder MUTABILIA. 



1820. Mutabilia Mehrem, Syst. Amph., p. 166. 



1820. Salamandrx Goldfusz, Handb. ZooL, II, p. 129. 



1828. Morphuroviolgxi Ritgen, Nova Acta Acad. Leop. Carol., XIV, p. 277. 



1828. Molgx Ritgen, Nova Acta Acad. Leop. Carol., XIV, p. 277. 



1832. I)erotremaia-\-Salamandrina'M.VE'LL¥.n, Isis, 1832 (p. 504). 



1831. Urodela Bonaparte, Saggio Distrib. Met., p. 77. 



1840. Deiretremata-\-Aphanobranchiata Leuckart, Froriep's Neue Notizen, XIII, 



p. 20. 



1866. Sozura HAECKEh, Gen. Morphol., II, p. cxxxi. 



1866. Cadudbranchiata Cope, Joiirn. Phila. Acad. Sci., VI, Pt. 1, p. 102. 



1889. Pseudosauria Cope, Amer. Natxtral., XXIII, 1889, p. 861. 



In the true salamanders we recognize two superfamilies, viz, the 

 Amphiumoideae and the Salamandroideae. For our present purpose it 

 is enough to separate them by the presence of well-developed eyelids 

 in the latter and the absence of eyelids in the former. It is stated that 

 the absence of eyelids is concurrent with the absence of a first epi- 

 branchial and with the connection of stapes with the quadrate arch in 

 the Amphiumoideaj, while in the Salamandroideae a first epibranchial 

 is present and stapes not connected with the quadrate arch in the 

 adult. The Amphiumoidese correspond to Cope's Trematodera and 

 Amphiumoidea, and to Boulenger's Amphiumidae, while the Sala- 

 mandroideae are the latter's Salamandridae and Cope's Pseudosauria 

 (1889, X. Am. Batr., p. 33; not of 1898, Syllabus, p. 48, where the 

 term corresponds strictly to our Mutabilia). 



Both superfamilies occur within our limits. The genera which 

 belong to them may be referred to their respective groups as follows: 



analytical key to families. 



a' (Amphiumoide^e.) No eyelids Cryptobranchid,«, p. 3. 



a- (Salamandroide^.) Eyelids developed. 



6' Vomero-palatine teeth in two longitudinal series diverging backward; vertebrse 



opisthocoelous Salamandrid.e, p. 11. 



b- Vomero-palatine teeth in transverse series, or converging backward; vertebrae 

 amphiccelous Ambystomid^, p. 24. 



Superfamily AMPHIUMOIDEiE. 



Two families compose the superfamily Amphiumoideae, the Am- 

 phiumidae and the Cryptobranchidae, differing in many anatomical 

 characters, the former represented by the eel-like Amphiuma with at 

 most three digits on the rudimentary legs, the latter by the hellbender, 

 with its more salamander-like body, 4-5 digits and well-developed 

 limbs. The former occurs only in North America. 



Family CRYPTOBRANCHID.E. 



This family embraces three genera, Proteocordylus (Andrias) , known 

 only from the miocene of western Europe, Cryptohranchus, wliich only 



