204 Dr. II. F. E. Junfrersen on the Stractare 



Xenopus. 



Tlie structure of tl\e liand in this genus is mentioned by but 

 few authors. Mayer "(' Analecten,' 1835, p. 34) simply says 

 about X. kevis (Daud.) " Der Carpus besteht aus fiinf bis 

 seclis kleinen Knoclielchen," and makes no remarks concerning 

 the skeleton of the fingers. The accompanying figure of the 

 whole skeleton in his work (which is with some additions due 

 to Schlegel) is rather incorrect both as regards the carpus and 

 the fingers, the latter being assigned the following number of 

 joints, 2, 3, 3, 2. From the relative length of the fingers and 

 from the description of the exterior of the animal {cf. I. c. tab. ii. 

 fig. V.) it is evident that the hand is turned with the inner 

 side outwards and the palm looking upwards. Mayer says 

 (/. c. p. 29), " Es sind vier Finger vorhanden, wovon der 

 ziceite innere um eine halbe Linie langer ist als die iibrigen ; " 

 in reality this applies to the penultimate finger. Hallowell *, 

 in iiis description of Xenopus [Dactylethra) Miilleriy Peters, 

 says, "... fourth finger stoutest, second longest^ first and 

 fourth of nearly equal length ; " thus he falls into the same 

 error as Mayer. A. Dumeril f figures the hand correctly in 

 X. calcaratus, Peters ; but as the text is no improvement 

 on Haliowell's description of the fingers in X. Mullen j with 

 which Dumeril holds his s])ecies to be identical, the correctness 

 of the figure is apparently due to the artist. Peters +, in 

 his diagnosis of the genus Xenopus, rightly observes " Die 

 Zahl der Phalangen der Finger 2, 2, 3, 3 und der Zehen 

 2, 2, 3, 4, 3 ist die gewohnliche; '' but in the beautiful pictures 

 of his X. Millleri [I. c. tab. xxv.) he still depicts the lower 

 side of the hand in that figure which represents the animal 

 seen from above (fig. 3), and the upper side of the hand in 

 fig. 3 a, representing the lower side of the animal. Howes 

 and Hidewood [l. c. p. 163, pi. vii. fig. 4) have given the 

 first and hitherto only complete representation of the carpus 

 {X. la'vis) ; but they have here made the same mistake as in 

 Fipa, figuring the right hand from behind, while they believe 

 they have represented the left hand from the dorsal side. This 

 is especially evident from their referring to " the great expan- 

 sion of the head of the fourth metacarpal," a peculiar feature 



* "Notice of a Collection of lleptiles from the Gaboon Country, 

 West Africa," Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci, Philad. 1857, t. ix. p. 65. 



t " lieptiles et Poissons de I'Afrique occidentale," Arch, du Museum 

 d'ilist. nut. t. X. 1858-61, p. 231. 



I ' Ruise nach Mussaiubiiiue,' Zool. iii. Aniphibien, 1882, p. 180. 



