On new Batrachidns and Reptiles. 



51 



to be more nearly related to the fossil Ch. Marchisonii than i.s 

 Ch. serpentina. Leavino^ out Pomel's Eniydosaurus Meil- 

 heuratice*, from the Oligocene of Auvergne, of which a 

 definition has never appeared, and Laube's imperfectly known 

 Cheli/dra argilLiram f, from tiie Oligocene of 1? )hemia, four 

 species of CheJydra are known, two recent and two fossil. 

 Their principal characters are contrasted in the following 

 synopsis : — 



Synopsis of the Species. 



I. Vertebral shields at least two thU'ds the 



width of the costals ; the length of the 



outer border of the hyosternal bone leas 



than that of the inner. 



Anterior lobe of plastron angular ; bridge 



very narrow, not more than one tenth of 



the length of the plastron; two Ijarbels . . 1. serpentina, L. 



Anterior lobe of plastron angular ; bri Ige 



comparatively broad, less th;in one ninth 



of the length of the plastron ; four barbels. 2. Rossii/nonii, Bocourt, 

 Anterior lobe of plastron with nearly parallel 

 sides, truncate in front; bridge compara- 

 tively broad, formed to a nearly equal 

 extent by the hyo- and the hyposternals . 3. Marchisonii, Boll. 



II. Vertebral shields not much broader than 



long, not more than two thirds the 

 width of the costals ; bridge compara- 

 tively broad, formed to a nearly equal 

 extent by the hyo- and the hyposternals; 

 the length of the outer border of the 

 hyosternal as great as that of the inner. 4. Dechenii, II v. Mev-t 



X . — Descriptions of new Datrachians and R'^pliles from 

 North-western Ecuador. By G. A. BOULENGER, F.R.S. 



C Cecilia nigricans. 



Teeth moderately large, few (about oiglit on each side of 

 the upper jaw and six on each side of the lower). Snout 

 rounded, very prominent, as long as the distance betweeii 

 the eyes ; latter visible ; tentacle below and a little behind 

 the nostril, on the lower surface of the snout. Body much 

 elongate, its diameter about sixty times in the total len^tli ; 



* Bull. Soc. geol. France, (2) iii. 18415, p. 372. 

 t Abh. Ver. i.otos, ii. 1900, p. 47. 



X I regard Chelydropsis curniatit, C. Peters, as based on an older speni-- 

 meu of the same species. 



4* 



