108 THE NATmAL HISTOEY EEVIEW. 



parietal fontanelle ; and in one a bony xiphisternuin. They are as 

 follows : — 



I. No fronto-pariental fontanelle. 



A cavum tympani ; no osseous styloid xiphisternum. 



Chirole'ptes, Scaphiopus. 

 No caA^um tympani, or osseous xiphisternal style. 



Telmatobius.'^ 

 No cavuin tympani : xiphisternal style osseous, slender. 



Felohates. 



II. A fronto-parietal fontanelle. 



No cavum tympani. Alsodes. 



Cavum tympani j atlas and second vertebra distinct. 



Selioporus, Hi/peroUa.f 



Cavum tympani ; atlas and second vetebra confluent. 



I*elodi/tes. 

 The xiphisternum in Scaphiopus solitarius is a cartilaginous plate ; 

 in Felodytes the cartilage is supported by an oblong plate-like 

 osseous style, as in many Cystignathids. In Pelobates and Scaphiopus 

 only, are the sacral and coccygeal vertebrsB confluent. In Scaphiopus, 

 Selioporus^ and St/perolia, are parotoid glands. The heterogeneous 

 structure of this family, is not more striking than its geographical 

 distribution. Thus Hyperolia, Helioporus, and GJiiroleptes are Aus- 

 tralian ; Alsodes and Telmatolius, Neotropical ; ScapTiiopus, Nearctic ; 

 and Felohates and JPelodytes, Palaearctic. It is quite possible that 

 Alsodes, in which the dilatation of the sacral diapophyses is extremely 

 slight, should be removed to the Cystignathidce, and placed between 

 CyclorliampTius and Crinia ; in some species of the latter the diapo- 

 physes are quite as much dilated. J 



Eemains from the Braunkohle, from Eott, near Bonn, indicate a 

 species of Felobates larger than those now existing. 



HTLID-aE. 



Vertebrae procoelian. Sacral diapophyses dilated, the simple coccyx 

 articulated to two condyles. External metacarpi bound together. 

 Terminal phalanges articulated inferiorly on to the extremity of the 

 penultimate, globular or swollen proximally, and giving rise, usually 

 from a central emargination, to the curved, acute distal portion 



* My knowledge of the sternum in this genus is not definite. 



t Sometimes written Uperoleia. 



X Vide Gunther, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, Peb. 9th. 



