DEVELOPMENT OF THE SKULL IN THE BATRACULV. 117 



the fore part ; its basi-teuiporal wings are narrow. The vomers (v.) are also normal, 

 their dentigerous lobe is small and transvei-se ; they strongly curl round the inner 

 nostrils (i.n.), and have a moderate front lobe. 



I shall have to refer to this skull once and again ; it seems to me to belonof to an 

 archaic type of the " Anura," and to be a form very difficult to place, zoologically. 



The main departures from, or failures in attaining to, what is typical, are as 

 follows : — 



1. There is only one fontanelle. 



2. This is not covered by the roof-bones. 



3. The ossification of the occipital arch and ear-capsules is generalised and continuous. 



4. The nasal region is very dilated. 



5. There are no palatine bones. 



6. There is no inter-stapedial, the supra-stapedial is confluent above, and the extra- 

 stapedial is sub-peltate. 



7. The hyoid arch is veiy feeble, partly absorbed, and has its dislocated distal ends 

 exti-emely dilated. 



8. The front lobes of the basal plate are similarly dilated. 



9. The thyi'O-hyals are non-symmetrical. 



10. There is an irregular forked superficial basi-branchial on the under surface of 

 the basal plate. 



Third genus. Xenophrys. 



29. Xenophrys monticola. — Adult male ; 3 inches long; length of hind leg, 4| inches. 

 Darjeeling. 



This fine specimen, the gift of Dr. Gunther, is twice as large as the one described 

 by him in his ' Keptiles of British India' (plate 26, fig. H, h', p. 414). That specimen 

 only measured 19 lines from snout to vent, with a hind limb 31 lines long ; this gives 

 nearly double these lengths. 



Moreover, this appears to be much better developed ; it has a rudiment of the 

 "mterdigital membrane," and the fingers and toes have a discoid end one-third wider 

 than the contiguous part of the digits. 



I am very doubtful as to the position of this large Frog, and of its equally fine 

 relative, Megalophrys montana (ibid., p. 412). 



The figures of the skull of Xenophrys (Plate 23, figs. 5-10) have been purposely put 

 on the .same plate with those of Feludytes (figs. 1-4) for contrast. The Family 

 " Discoglossidaj " (Gunther, " Batr. Sal.," p. 34 ; and Mivart, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1869, 

 p. 294) must be one in which the members "agree to dlfier" to a very great extent, 

 especially now Professor Mivart has added the " Asterophrydida3 " of Dr. Gunther, 

 and Professor Cope's Neotropical genus Grypiscus, which has mandibular teeth, and 

 heads a " Sub-family" of its own. Tliis type has opisthoca;lian vertebra?. 



I sl'.all look for its true relations among the "Oriental" Batrachiii, and these, when 



