230 Observations on the Genus Salamandra. 



Rusconi ; the latter author reckons seven ribs from the third 

 to the ninth vertebra? — the former, six, counting from the 

 second to the seventh vertebrae. I am disposed to think Con- 

 figliachi is correct, and that the errors noted above in Cuvier's 

 figure of the Protean skeleton, arose from its having been 

 badly cleaned, as in the view he has given of a separate verte- 

 bra enlarged, he has represented the rib as distinct from the 

 transverse process, and bifid at its articular extremity, nearly 

 similar to that of the Salamandra. 



The pelvis of the Salamandra Alleghaniensis is somewhat 

 or nearly similar to the Salamandra ; a small process is given 

 off laterally from the transverse process of the twentieth ver- 

 tebra, which may represent the os ilium ; from which another 

 process (the ischium) descends to unite with the pubis ; at the 

 junction of the two last, the os femoris is articulated. 



There are twenty-four vertebrae to the tail, including the 

 pelvic or sacral, which makes in all forty-three for the Sala- 

 mandra Alleghaniensis ; both surfaces of the bodies of the 

 vertebrae are remarkably concave, which in the recent animal 

 are filled with a ligamento-cartilaginous ball. The articulat- 

 ing surface of the transverse process is very oblong vertically, 

 the head or articulating surface of the rib is consequently very 

 broad ; this structure differs from those Salamandra with 

 which I have compared it, (viz. Salamandra rubra and aqua- 

 tica) in them the head of the rib is bifid and articulated by 

 two separate surfaces to the transverse process, which is also 

 bifid, but approaches the manner in which the ribs are articu- 

 lated in the Siren. Nothing remarkable or characteristic was 

 observed in the remaining portions of the skeleton. 



It follows from the above detail that the Salamandra Alle- 

 ghaniensis differs widely from the Salamandrce in the respira- 

 tory organs — in the circulating system — in the digestive appa- 

 ratus — and, finally, in its osteological construction. I may 

 here remark, that 1 was not surprised to observe the internal 

 fabric of the Alleghaniensis so characteristically distinct from 



