COPE ON THE BATEACHIA SALIENTIA. 105 



III. Sacral diapophyses cylindrical ; vertebrse procoelian. 



External metacarpal bones mostly bound to- 

 gether, rarely free CTSTiaNATHiDiE. 



DiSCOGLOSSID-aE. 



Vertebrse opithocoelian.* Diapopbyses of sacrum dilated. Pirst 

 coccygeal vertebra united as usual with the second or style, but fur- 

 nished with posteriorly divergent diapophyses, and attached to the 

 sacral by two cotyloid cavities (with one exception). Short ribs 

 articulated to the anterior diapophyses.f Ossa fronto-parietalia 

 enclosing a fontanelle (in existing genera). External metatarsi 

 more or less separated by a web. Terminal phalanges continuous, 

 simple. Xiphisternum of two slender postero-exteriorly diverging 

 fibro-cartilaginous or cartilaginous styles. Tongue round, entire, 

 and little or not at all free behind. 



G-enera : Latotiia, von Meyer. ; Discoglossus, Otth. ; Alytes, 

 Wagl. J Combinatory Merr. 



Although the species composing this family are European, and 

 have long been under the eyes of zoologists, few have been in some 

 respects less understood. 



"W"e may commence the series of the Arcifera with the great 

 central family of the Ch/stignathidcd, which afford the closest points 

 of resemblance, perhaps affinity, on the one hand to the Bicfoniformia 

 through Fhyllohates and Dendrobates, and on the other to the Bani- 

 formia through CystignatJius and Cassina. We will then end it with 

 the families Aster cphry did cb and DiscoglossidcB, which are perhaps 

 equally connected with that which precedes them — the Scaphiopodidce. 

 The former leads to DactyletJira through Balceobatrachus ; the latter, 

 as far as our present knowledge indicates, finds its completest deve- 

 lopment in the extinct genus Latonia, established by Yon Meyer on 

 the L. seyfriedi% from the miocene of Oeningen. A species also 

 occurs in the freshwater deposits of Sansan, L. rugosa,§ whose sala- 

 mander-like vertebrae have been noticed by Gervais.|| These animals 

 were nearly related to Discoglossusy and had, like it, short posteriorly- 



* Observed by Duges and Gervais in Alytes. 



f Noticed by Dnges in Alytes and Bomhinator. 



X Saugethiere Vogel u. Keptilien von Oeningen, p. 18. 



§ Rana rugosa, Lartet (Notice sur la Colline de Sansan, p. 41). My acknow- 

 ledgments are due to M. Lartet for the pleasure of being able to make an examina- 

 tion of the reptilian remains of Sansan, preserved in his private collection. 



II Pal^eontologie Fran(,-aise, p. 494, 



