138 KEPTILES. 



Page 53. Chelydobatraclius gouldii. 

 c. Half-grown. Swan River. Presented by Sir A, Smith. 



Page 54. Add to the Synopsis of the Genera : — 

 Irt. Schismaderma. Crown flat; skin warty; paratoids flat, indistinct. 



Page 55.— 1 a. SCHISMADEEMA. 



Head moderate ; muzzle distinct, short ; eye moderate ; extremi- 

 ties rather short ; teeth none in jaws nor in palate. Tongue elliji- 

 tical, entire and free behind. Tympanum large, prominent ; eusta- 

 chian tubes moderate ; paratoids flat, veiy indistinct ; skin warty ; 

 fingers free, toes webbed ; a blunt tubercle at the base of the first 

 toe. Male with a single internal vocal sac. South Africa. 



Schismaderma, Smith, III. S. Afr. Rept. Aijp. p. 28. 



1. Schismaderma carens. 



Bufo carens, Stnitli, I. c. pi. . f. 



Bufo vertebralis, Smith, I. c. f. (young). 



Schismadenua lateralis, Smith, I. c. App. p. 28. 



Tympanum circular, rather larger than the eye ; web between 

 the toes extending to near the tip, but deeply notched ; a cutaneous 

 fold along the inner edge of tarsus. From the back edge of eye 

 above the tympanum to the sides of the body a black, above white- 

 edged band. 



a-f. Adult. Natal. Presented by Sir A. Smith. 



g. Young. Presented by Sir A. Smith {Bufo vertebralis). 



The results of my examinations of the same specimens, upon 

 which Sir A. Smith has founded Bifo careiis and vertebralis, and 

 which he has generously presented to the British Museum, together 

 with the other valuable Batrachians collected diu'ing his sojourn in 

 Southern Africa, differ somewhat from those given in his great work. 

 First, there arc no teeth in the lower jaw ; this bone is equally 

 covered with the mucosa, and some prominences on it are merely 

 deposits of calcareous matter, in consequence of the partial dissolu- 

 tion of the inorganic parts of the bones. Secondly, in the jiresent 

 state of preservation, nothing of a paratoid is to be seen ; but 

 at the place where it ought to be found, the skin, after an incision, 

 appears much thicker, with an internal stratum of parenchyma ; 

 and I believe that there has been a paratoid, certainly flat, and not 

 prominent. In the same way, I have observed the paratoid to 

 become invisible in Pelodryas cceruleus. Finally, all the specimens 

 upon which B. vertebralis has been founded are young individuals, 

 of the greatest similarity to B. carens. Now, in these also I am 

 not able to point out the paratoid ; but Sir A. Smith, who has 



