Nova Acta Academia Nature Curiosorum. 485 
perhaps to the stems which are abundantly met with in the deeper seated 
strata of the same braunkohl formation. As these leaves chiefly belong 
to trees inhabiting humid situations, it is not surprising that they should 
be accompanied by remains of marsh and water animals, and of such 
insects as live either in the water or on trees. A large collection of such* 
remains has within these few years been formed in the Bonn museum: 
some have been already made known; and the remainder of the present 
paper contains descriptions of the reptiles of the extensive series thus 
collected. The insects, we are informed, belong chiefly to the genera 
Lucanus, Meloé, Dytiscus, Buprestis, Cantharis, Cerambyx, Paran- 
dra, Belostoma, Cercopis, Locusta, Anthrax and Tabanus. A small 
erab has been noticed by Dr. Bronn, and there are also three remark- 
able Branchiopodous Crustacea, the largest of which exceeds an inch 
in diameter. The impressions of Fishes appear to belong to two distinct 
species, the smaller of which has been published by Dr. Bronn under 
the name of Cyprinus carbonarius ; the second, which is twice as large, 
is rarely found asa perfect impression, but more commonly, although 
still rare, as a mutilated skeleton. 
The first of the fossil reptiles from this curious formation is the Rana 
diluviana, Goldf., bones of which are rarely found in good preservation, 
but their impressions are frequently so perfect as to give a clear indication 
of the form of the entire skeleton. It is considerably larger than the 
common green frog of the vicinity, (Rana esculenta), and is distin- 
guished from it, at the first glance, by the shortness of its body in 
proportion to the length of its head; the body of the green frog being 
almost 23 times, while that of the fossil species scarcely exceeds 14 times, 
aslong asthe head. Other differences between the skeletons of the two 
animals are pointed out, and that of the fossil is deseribed in detail with 
occasional references to the structure of other existing species, with which 
it is also compared, It is remarkable that the Rana diluviana occurs not 
only in various stages of its growth asa perfect animal, but also in its 
process of transformation, in the tailed and tadpole state. In this latter 
state it is also described and figured. 
A second Batrachian reptile is the Salamandra Ogygia, Goldf., found 
