No. 2.] 



AMPHIUMA MEANS. 



403 



Phylogenetic Conclusions. 



Amphinma has always been considered a degenerate form. 

 Cope (4) says that Amphiiivia is the annectant type which 

 Wiedersheim sought for in tracing the ancestry of the Coecili- 

 idae to the Stegocephali of the Carboniferous period, and then 

 adds that he derives the Coeciliidae from the Urodela direct 

 through the AmpJimmidae, and adds the following table of 

 affinity: 



Coeciliidae 



Thoriidae 



Plethodontidae 



Amphiumidae 

 Desmognathidae 

 Amblystomidae 

 Cryptobranchidae 



Pleurodelidae 



Salamandridae 



It is evident to all phylogenists that this table presents an 

 absurdity, since representatives of each of the five families in 

 the direct line of descent are existing at the present time. 

 That these families are closely related cannot be denied. Cope 

 bases his strongest point of relationship between Coeciliidae 

 and Amphiumidae on the common possession of an ethmoid, 

 when in fact the latter family does not possess an ethmoid. 

 Sections of my young specimens clearly demonstrate this. 

 What Cope has called the ethmoid are inerely the descending 

 processes of tJie frontals . Kingsley (5) believes that the many 

 peculiar resemblances of Gymnophiona and Amphinma are 

 those of homoplassy. The recent information gained by the 

 examination of the young specimens in my possession, enables 

 me to prove that these resemblances are due, in part at least, 

 to relationship. The TchthyopJiis glntinosjis of Ceylon, as de- 

 scribed by the Sarasins (9), is undoubtedly closely allied to 

 Amphinma. It is now known that the eggs of the former are 

 fertilized within the body of the parent. In my description 

 of the reproductive organs of Amphinma I have demonstrated 

 that in this genus also internal fertilization takes place. Both 

 deposit eggs of about the same size, which are united by a 



