16 BULLETIN 194, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Type. — Museum Magdeburg, NV, 44/29, Ex. Nr. 1. 

 Type locality. — Tampico, Veracruz, Mexico. 



Range. — Northern Veracruz and eastern San Luis Potosi. Recorded 

 from the type locahty and Villa Juarez, San Luis Potosi. 



Plethodontoidea, new suborder 



This group consists of the families Desmognatliidae and Pletho- 



dontidae. 



Family PLETHODONTIDAE Gray 



Plethodontidae Gray, Catalogue of the Batrachia Gradientia of the British 

 Museum, 1850, p. 31 (part). 



KEY TO MEXICAN SUBFAMILIES OF PLETHODONTIDAE 



1. Tarsals and carpals well ossified; a strong groove from eye to lip. 



Thoriinae (p. 16) 

 Tarsals and carpals normally cartilage "; no groove from eye to lip. 



Plethodontinae (p. 18) 



Subfamily Thoriinae Cope 



Thoriidae Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 21, 1869, pp. 110-111. 

 Thoriinae Cope, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc, vol. 31, 1893, p. 334 (part). 



Genus THORIUS Cope 



Thorius Cope, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 21, 1869, p. 111. — Taylor, 

 Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., vol. 30, 1944, pp. 228-229. 



Genotype. — Thorius pennatulus Cope. 



Range. — Mountains at the extreme southeastern edge of the main 

 Mexican plateau, in Veracruz and Puebla; the high mountains of 

 central Oaxaca. 



Species. — Five. 



KEY TO MEXICAN SPECIES OF THORIUS 



1. Nostril large, oval, greatly elongated, nearly twice as long as wide; foot 



and hand broadened, the digital tips more or less pointed; premaxillary 



teeth apparently never piercing upper lip in males pulmonaris (p. 17) 



Nostril large, round or oval, never greatly elongated 2 



2. Nostril very large, circular; digits pointed; usually a single premaxillary 



tooth piercing lip; subnarial swelling pendant; submental gland very 



distinct pennatulus (p. 17) 



Nostrils large, oval; digits rounded at tips; one or two premaxillary teeth 

 piercing lip; subnarial swelling not pendant 3 



IS Dunn, in "The Salamanders of the Family Plethodontidae," 1926, p. 45, mentions a cleared and stained 

 Plethodon (jlutinosus that shows ossified carpals and tarsals. I have examined numerous specimens of the 

 genus and find the carpals and tarsals to be cartilage, which disintegrates in rotting out the skeletons of 

 preserved specimens. P. glulinosus may be an exception. I have not examined very old specimens of this 

 form.— E. H. T. 



