380 Illinois Slate Laboratorij of Natural History. 



Family CRYPTOBRAN0HID.E. 



Two pairs of legs present, the anterior with four digits, 

 the posterior with five. Jaws provided with teeth. Palatine 

 teeth approximating and parallel wfth those on maxillariesand 

 premaxillaries. No parasphenoid teeth. No eyelids. No 

 branchial tufts. Branchial opening present (in our genus) or 

 absent. Premaxillaries not anchylosed. Nasals, pterygoids, 

 and prefrontals present. Occipital condyles sessile. Carpus 

 and tarsus cartilaginous. Vertebrae amphicoelian. 



CRYPTOBRANCHUS, LeUCKART. 



Leuckart, Isis, 1821, p. 257 (S. Garman). 



Branchial openings persistent. Body stout. Mouth large, 

 terminal. Tongue large, free in front. Palatine series of 

 teeth strongly arched forward, parallel wi;h, but not as long as, 

 that on the jaw. Internal nares at the extremities of the pala- 

 tine series. No gular fold. Outer digits with lateral mem- 

 branous expansions. Tail short, compressed distally, with a 

 dorsal membranous expansion. 



Oryptobranchus alleghaniensis, Latr. Hellbender. 



SaJamandra alleghaniensis, Latr., Hist. nat. des Reptiles, 1802, 



p. 253. 

 Abranchus aMegli aniens is, Harlan, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., 



1824, I., p. 233. 

 Menopoma alleghaniensis, id., ibid., p. 271. — De Kay, Nat. Hist. 



N. Y., I., Zool. III., Kept, and Amph., 1842, p. 89, pi. 18, fig. 



44.— Holbr., N. A. Herp., 1842, V., p. 95, pi. 32.— Baird, Jour. 



Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 2d 8er., 1849, 1., 289.— Dum. et Bibr., 



Erp. Gen., 1854, IX., p. 206.— Smith, Tailed Amphibians, 



1877, p. 22. 

 Cryj^tohranclius alleghaniensis, Boulenger, Cat. Batr. Sal. in 



Coll. Brit. Mus., 2d ed., Sal. Caudata, p. 81. 

 Menopoma alleghaniensifi, Davis and Rice, Bull. 111. State Lab. 



Nat. Hist., I., No. 5, 1883, p. 8; Bull. Chicago Acad. Sci., 1883. 



Total length from one and a half to two feet. Body 

 stout, cylindrical. Head wide, depressed, with lines of large 

 mucous pores above and below. Eye small and not prominent, 



