COPE Olf THE BATRACniA SALIENTIA. 115 



sternum similar (with one exception).* Pronto -parietal bones never 

 embracing a fontanelle. Tongue extensively free, more or less deeply 

 notclied.f Ear perfectly developed, no paratoids. 



Members of the Banidce existed during the miocene period. The 

 remains of Rana merianiX indicate a species as large as R. esculenfa. 

 Bana noeggeratlii, also from the Braunkohle near Boim, was a small 

 species, of which I have not been able to learn the form of the xiphi- 

 sternum. If the species was not a Bana, it did not belong to any other 

 existing genus of the family. The genus Asphcermm^ (found in the 

 Oeningen bed) was apparently of inferior organization, as indicated 

 by a humerus without terminal condyle; it represents possibly 

 another family in this suborder. 



The skeletal modifications in this family are those of the ethmoid 

 and prefrontal bones and of the posterior extremity. 



Group I. External metatarsi bound together. Digital dilatations 



present or absent ; the terminal phalanges short, simple. Ossa 



prefrontalia extensively in contact, typically for their whole 



length. II 



In Sylamhates, Halophila vltiana, and Cassina senegalensis, the 



proximal portion of the manubrium consists of two limbs, which rest 



upon the epicoracoidi, enclosing a foramen. This does not occur in 



Arthroleptis ivahlbergii, or any other nearly allied species. I have 



observed it elsewhere in Hgperoliiis marmoratus and H. guttulatus, 



Ixalus variabilis^ Hijlarana macularia, and Dicroglossiis adolplii. 



a. Digital dilatations wanting. 

 Cassina, Girard \% Arthroleptis, Smith. Both African. 



aa. Digital dilatations present. 

 Semimantis, Peters ; Hglaonhafes, Dumeril : African. Halophila, 

 Gird., and Cornufer, Tschudi: from the East Indian and Pacific 

 Islands. 



Group II. External metatarsi bound together. Digital dilatations 

 present, supported by short phalanges, which are swollen at the 



* Hylainhatett, where it is shorter and moi'C disciform. 



f Except ill Thelodenna and Dicro(jlossm, where there is a median instead of 

 lateral production, 



\ Von Meyer, Palteontographica, iii. p. 127. 

 § A. reussii, Von Meyer, l. c. ii. p. 68. 

 II I hove not seen them in Ilemimantu and Arthroleptis, 

 \ Includes Cystignathxis argT/reivittis and C. seneijalensis. 



I 2 



