380 Illinois State Laboratory oj Natural History. 



Family CRYPTOBRANCHID^. 



Two pairs of legs present, the anterior with four digits, 

 the posterior with five. Jaws })rovided with teeth. Palatine 

 teeth approximating and parallel with those on maxillariesand 

 premaxillaries. No parasphenoid teeth. No eyelids. No 

 branchial tufts. Branchial opening present (in our genus) or 

 absent. Premaxillaries not anchylosed. Nasals, pterygoids, 

 and prefrontals present. Occipital condyles sessile. Carpus 

 and tarsus cartilaginous. Vertebrae amphicoeliau. 



Oryptobranchus, Leuckart. 



Leuckart, Isis, 1821, p. 257 (S. Garman). 



Branchial openings persistent. Body stout. Mouth large, 

 terminal. Tongue large, free in front. Palatine series of 

 teeth strongl}' arched forward, parallel wirh, but not as long as, 

 that on the jaw. Internal nares at the extremities of the pala- 

 tine series. No gular fold. Outer digits with lateral mem- 

 branous expansions. Tail short, compressed distally, with a 

 dorsal membranous expansion. 



Oryptobranchus alleghaniensis, Latr. Hellbender. 



Salamandni alleghaniensis; Latr., Hist. nat. des Reptiles, 1802, 



p. 253. 

 Abranahus aMeghaniensis, Harlan, Ann. Lye. Nat. llist. N. Y., 



1824, I., p. 233. 

 Menopoma aJIeghauieiisis, id., ibid., p. 271.— De Kay, Nat. Hist. 



N. Y., I., Zool. III., Kept, and Amph., 1842, p. 8<t. pi. 18, fig. 



44.— Holbr., N. A. Herp., 1842, V., p. 95. pi. 32.— Baird, Jour. 



Acad. Nat. 8ci. Phila., 2d Ser., 184<t, I., 289.— Dum. et Bibr., 



Erp. Gen., 1854, IX., p. 20t).— Smith, Tailed Amphibians, 



1877, p. 22. 

 Cry2)tohraiichiis (ilhglKDUiii.sis, Boulenger, Cat. Batr. Sal. in 



Coll. Brit. Mas., 2d ed., Sal. Caudal a, p. 81. 

 MoiopoiiKi (illeghanieusis. Davis and Rice, Bull. 111. State Lab. 



Nat. Hist., I., No, 5. 1S83, p. 8; Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., LS83. 



Total length from one and a half to two feet. Body 

 stout, cylindrical. Head wide, depressed, with lines of large 

 mucous pores above and below. Eye small and not prominent, 



