AMPHIBIA. 



63 



ORDER URODELA. 



In this group the larval tail is persistent in the adult. The skin 

 is naked ; the vertebrae aniphicoelus or opisthocoelus, with short 

 vertebral ribs. They have four legs, or sometimes only the an- 

 terior pair, and the bones of the fore-arm, and of the shank, 

 remain distinct. 



The order may be divided into the peretmibranchiata, which 

 retain their external gills through life, as the Axolotl {Siredon), 

 Proteus, Necturus and Siren, and the caducibranchiata, which 

 lose the gills in the adult, as the Newts and Salamanders. 



Remains of the order occur through the Tertiary, and Prof. 

 Cope reports a salamandroid form from the Laramie. 



No. 97. [397] Andrias Scheuchzeri, Tschudi. 



Skeleton, on slab (cast). This noted fossil — 

 the Cryptobranchus of Van der Hoeven — was a 

 perennibranchiate salamander. It was a large 

 specimen of this extinct animal which was er- 

 roneously supposed by Scheuchzer to be a human 

 skeleton, and was described by him nearly a cen- 

 tury and a half ago as "Homo diluvii testis." 

 Cuvier demonstrated its near affinities to the 

 Water-Salamander {Menopoma) of the United 

 States. It is perhaps closer related to the Giant- 

 Salamander {Cryptobranchus Japonicus or Mega- 

 lobatrachus maximus) of Japan. This specimen 

 consists of the cranium, vertebral column with 

 ribs, the four extremities, and vestiges of the 

 tail. It was obtained from the Miocene lacustrine 

 deposits at (Eningen, Switzerland, and is in the 

 British Museum. 



Size, 3 ft. X 8 in. 



