3l8 Transactions of the [Sess. 



have never before been described. The whole dorsal surface of the 

 body, in the natural skeleton now exhibited, is covered with dis- 

 tinct, ossified, exo-skeleton plates, eleven in number, the two outer 

 ones measuring fully f in. across and gV in. thick. This Frog is 

 evidently an aged specimen, as all the bones of the skull are 

 anchylosed or fused together ; and they are also rough and pitted, 

 like the reptilian, excepting the premaxillas and mandibles, which 

 are smooth and free. The skin was so very thin on the dorsal 

 surface of the body, that I could only get it parted from the bony 

 plates by diligent scraping. The plates are attached to each other 

 by sutures, and are very apt to be regarded by a casual observer 

 merely as a thickened and hardened portion of the skin. The 

 inner plates resemble very much in shape the bones of the carapace 

 of the Chelonia. They are of a reptilian type, rough and pitted on 

 the upper surface, not unlike the skull-bones of the Crocodiles, and 

 are quite flat and smooth on the under surface, forming a protec- 

 tion to the soft parts of the animal. Further, they are not attached 

 to any of the vertebrfe, as in C'eratophrys dorsata, but are quite 

 free, and cover the whole back. In the various museums of Eng- 

 land, Scotland, and Ireland that I have visited, I have never seen 

 a specimen of the Frog skeleton showing such exo-skeleton plates. 

 Bhron, the eminent German scientist, has a skeleton figured in his 

 valuable work which exactly corresponds with this one, but shows 

 no exo-skeleton plates. 



XIV.— ABNORMAL GROWTHS ON ROOT OF TAXODIUM 

 DISTIGHUM. 



By Mr HUGH FRASER, 



(March 19, 1886.) 



Mr Hugh Fraser, manager, Leith Walk Nurseries, exhibited a 

 specimen of the protuberances on the root of Taxodium dis- 

 tichum — the deciduous Cypress of North America — which he had 

 obtained from a tree of about 30 feet high, growing on the margin of 

 a pond in Surrey. It was one of some thirty or forty from the same 

 tree, and measured 16 inches in height, with a breadth of 8 inches, 

 as sawn from the surface of the turf In the course of a few 

 remarks, Mr Fraser stated that this tree is found native in Florida 

 and on the Delaware and Mississippi — attaining heights of from 

 100 feet to 150 feet when growing on swampy ground. It is, par- 

 ticularly in the southern districts of Britain, perfectly hardy; but 



