ZOOLOGY. 633 



spiue at the angle of the jaws." It belongs to the group of Firmis- 

 ternia and is related to the other species of the group as the Hemi- 

 phractidfB are to the Arcifera. Tlie family named Ceratobatrachidse 

 in fact is definable as Firmisteruials with teeth in the upper as well as 

 lower jaw, cylindrical (non-dilated) sacral diapophyses, and with precora- 

 coids and an omosternum. {Proc. Zool. Soc. London^ 1884, pp. 212, 213.) 



Pugnacity of a Frog. — The frog will appear in a new light to many, 

 through the observation of an English gentleman, Mr. Edwin H. Evans, 

 recorded in Nature. A short time before dark this gentleman heard "a 

 squeaking noise" below his reranda, and on inquiry found that it came 

 from a bat in contest with a frog. The bat was " evidently getting the 

 worst of it, but at last succeeded in getting away for a time from its op- 

 ponent; the frog again attacked it, but this time lie was glad to cry 

 'quits,' as the bat turned on him and beat him oft, afterwards managing 

 to hide somewhere," so that he could not be found. The frog was found 

 badly " bitten about the nose, and was in a sad plight." Mr. Evans ' 

 remarks that the bat had " probably fallen from its nest during the day 

 and was waiting for the evening, when the frog espied it and attacked 

 it, with the before-mentioned result." (Nature, xxxi, p. 55.) 



Reptiles. 



A new group of extinct Jurassic Beptiles. — In Wyoming Territory, in 

 beds of the horizon of the Atlantosaurus beds of the Upper Jurassic, 

 the lower jaw, or rather the dentary bones, of a peculiar reptile were 

 obtained. These are believed by Professor Marsh to indicate a new 

 "order" of extinct Jurassic reptiles, to which he has given the name 

 Macelognatlia. The bones in question " resemble in many resi)ects the 

 corresponding parts of a turtle, but are broader and more nearly hori- 

 zontal. The jaws were evidently covered with a horny beak in front, 

 but further back they contained teeth. The edentulous portion is flat 

 and thin, and nearly horizontal. The two rami meet in nearly the same 

 plane, and are united at the symphysis by a close suture." The teeth 

 had fallen out, but their places were indicated by sockets, the walls be- 

 tween which "become thinner backwards, and a groove appears to grad- 

 ually take their place." Such were the only evidences of the nature of 

 the extinct animal, but Professor Marsh considers that he was justified 

 in assigning to the species {MacelognatJius ragans) not only anew ftimily 

 name but a new ordinal one. He thought that the "jaws are too solid 

 and massive for birds or pterodactyles," and that " the close union of the 

 rami by suture separates them from Dinosaurs, and the edentulous beak 

 from crocodiles." He surmises that the animal "was nearest allied to 

 the Chelonia, although turtles without teeth occur in the same strata 

 with them." (Am. Journ. /S'c. (3), xxvii, p. 340.) 



