COPE ON THE BATEACHIA SALIENTIA. 103 



In the first two only is the ear imperfectly developed. In all, 

 except Pseudophryne and Epidalea,* the fronto-parietals are entirely 

 osseous ; in the genera named they embrace a large fontanelle. In 

 Otiloplms and JPhynoidis^ there are but eght vertebrae, the atlas 

 and first being confluent. In Nectes there are resemblances to the 

 Asterophydidce ; the profrontals are narrow, divergent, in contact 

 only anteriorly ; the superior plate of the ethmoid is small, trans- 

 verse, not entirely covered by the fronto-parietals, which are but 

 weakly ossified medially, although embracing no fontanelle. In the 

 other genera the prefrontals are in contact mth each other and with 

 the fronto-parietals throughout. 



In none of the genera known to belong to the family is there a 

 manubrium sterni. The xiphisternum is a slender weak cartilage in 

 FseudopTiryne and JPhryniscus and Bufo helaartii : in the other 

 species the style supporting the terminal disc is strouger, sometimes 

 fibro- cartilaginous ; in Bufo vulgaris and B. melanost ictus it is 

 broader and nearly bony, and in Nectes% suhasper strongest and 

 broadest. 



In Bufo helaartii the terminal phalanges have a slight terminal 

 transverse extension. 



BseudopJiryne, the weakest and least-developed form, is Australian ; 

 Phryniscus, Btfo, Inciliu^, Peltaphryne, and Otiloplms are Neo- 

 tropical ; Bufo and ScJiismaderma, Ethiopian ; Bufo and Incilius, 

 Nearctic ; Bufo and Bpidalea, Palsearctic ; and Bufo, Incilius, Pliry- 

 noidiSf and Nectes, Palaeotropical. 



DENDE0BATID2E. 



Epicoracoidei transverse, their distal extremities in contact with 

 each other and with the dilated distal extremities of the coracoidei, 

 which are also in contact with each other. A manubrium. Sacral 

 diapophyses cylindrical. Eronto-parietal bones completely and 

 strongly ossified. Tongue not retractile posteriorly. Ear perfectly 

 developed. 



* Epidalea calamita {Bufo calamita of authors), found in Western Europe. 



f The raised orbital ridges of this genus do not constitute its essential character, 

 as formerly supposed, but rather the division of the neural spines and the wide 

 separation of the lateral portions (they stand above the zygapophyses) throughout 

 the vertebral column ; perhaps the fusion of the atlas with the first vertebra 

 important in the same connexion. There is but one species at present known, 

 P. osper. 



% I prefer this name to the hybrid Pseudohujo, though later in date. 



