864. Prof. J. van der Hoeven on the Genus Menobranchus 
also a genus left by Cuvier among the Ophidians, but the 
Batrachian affinities of which had not escaped that illustrious 
naturalist, and had been remarked already at the commencement 
of our century by his friend and collaborateur Prof. C. Duméril. 
This genus, that of the Cecilie, was placed by Oppel* and 
Merrem in the subclass which we are dealing with at present. 
The important discovery of two branchial apertures, one on each 
side, in a small specimen of Cecilia hypocyanea, made by Miller 
in 1831, effectually confirmed this view of their affinities, and 
now consigns the genus to the vicinity of Amphiuma and Siren, 
whose movements are effected by dragging the body along the 
bottom of the waters which they inhabit, and whose very small 
feet could not be of any assistance for walking. 
The Batrachians furnished with extremities have been divided 
by Duméril into Anoura and Urodela. The first, of which the 
frogs and toads of our fauna may serve as examples, will not 
detain us at present. Suflice it to observe that the external form 
of these Anoura (Batrachians properly so called) departs entirely 
from that of the Urodela (that, for example, of the aquatic 
Salamanders), and that this difference shows us the slight value 
due to external form in regard to primary groups in the natural 
classification of the animal kmgdom. We are now far from the 
time when Linnzeus united the salamanders with the crocodiles 
in his undigested genus Lacerta; but it is possible that the 
vulgar eye and judgment unassisted by science will find this 
union less strange than that of our actual systems. The frog, 
with its enormous head, its stunted trunk, and long claws, pre- 
sents no resemblance whatever to the salamander, and less still 
to the Proteus, while these latter genera would seem to be inti- 
mately allied to the lizards, and, above all, to the scincoids. 
The scalpel forces us, however, to alter our judgment; and the 
transitional forms of the frogs during their development prove 
indisputably that such appearances are deceptive, and that we 
may not give credence to them without strict examination. 
Amongst the Urodela it is well to make a principal division. 
There are two groups or families of these Batrachians. One 
comprehends the genus Salamandra, i. e. the terrestrial sala- 
manders and the numerous subgenera of the aquatic salamanders 
or tritons. The other might borrow its name from the genus 
Proteus: such is the family of the Proteide or Ichthyoide. 
At the commencement of our century Cuvier published a me- 
moir on some reptiles of this division, which is inserted in the 
* Die Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen der Reptilien, von M. Oppel, 
(Miinchen, 1811, 4to) p. 76. These naked serpents are indicated by the 
authors above named under the title of Batrachia apoda, 
