Dr. J. E. Gray on the Clawed Toads of Africa. 339 



behind. The mouth is small, with a very long slender beard on the 

 upper lip, at the angle of the mouth. The eye is on the keel on the 

 side of the head, considerably behind the beard, placed so as to be 

 visible from the upper and lower surface. The body is swollen ; 

 the tail compressed ; the inferior fin commences in the middle of 

 the belly, and is extended to the end of the tail. 



There is a second fish-formed specimen, not more than 2 inches 

 long and much more slender, which also has the front limbs developed, 

 from the upper part of the sides ; these limbs are weak, and the toes 

 are short and equal. The hinder limbs are rather more developed, 

 their toes rather more unequal ; and the fin on the under part of the 

 body and tail is also broad and more membranaceous. The mouth, 

 beard, and eyes are exactly as in the former specimen. 



The other two specimens (fig. 2) have assumed the form of the 

 genus Dactylethra, having both the fore and hind limbs well deve- 

 loped, the eye on the side of the head only visible from the upper 

 surface ; but they have a well-developed tail attached to their bodies, 

 with a very narrow, thin inferior membrane. The nose is blunt, 

 rounded at the sides. The mouth small, the beard well developed 

 at the angles. The eyes are far behind the angle of the mouth, and 

 without any appearance of a small beard on the under part of the 

 orbits. These specimens have a very distinct spur, covered with a 

 black claw, at the inner side of the base of the hind foot. 



I am willing to admit that there are some facts which might in- 

 duce one to believe that these animals may prove to be the larva of 

 Dactylethra ; and, as truth is my only object, I think it right to 

 state them, though they may only be similarities that are common 

 to two genera of the same family. 



1. There is a small, white, round, prominent dot on the side of 

 the nose in front, nearly on a level with the lower part of the orbit, 

 which appears as if it might develope itself into the orbital beard 

 of Dactylethra ; and I think this much more likely to be the case, 

 than that the beard of the angle of the mouth should become the 

 sviborbital beard. 



2. There are the same double rows of glands which I have de- 

 scribed as found in Dactylethra ; but in these young animals they 

 have a very peculiar appearance. On the forehead, rather in front 

 of the eyes, there is a transverse groove, which is continued over the 

 eyes, the base of the fore legs, along the side to the groin, and then 

 bends up again, and becomes united to a similar groove on the upper 

 surface of the body, which circumscribes an oval well-marked disk 

 or shield that covers the back. The two rows of glands above de- 

 scribed are placed on the margin of this shield. The glands are vi- 

 sible in the adult Dactylethra, but the disk is not distinguishable. 

 The disk is not distinguishable, except as a slight thickness on the 

 back of the base of the tail, in the two fish-shaped larvae. This shield 

 is peculiar ; it would almost seem to show that there is a certain 

 affinity, or analogy, between the Toads and the Chelonians, or rather 

 the freshwater Emydians. 



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