Zoological Society. 61 



found it necessary to withdraw from the excitement of active 

 life. He settled down at Richmond, and once more gave him- 

 self up to Ovid, Virgil, and his old friends Paulus Manutius, 

 Justus Lipsius, Ochinus, Fracastorius, &c. Increasing years 

 brought increasing feebleness ; and the severe weather of No- 

 vember last brought on an attack of bronchitis, of wliich he 

 died suddenly on the 1st of December, in the seventy-eighth 

 vear of his a2:e. — J. J. B. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL, SOCIETY. 



June -12, 1858.— Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 

 On the Systematic Arrangement of the Tailless Ba- 



TRACHIANS AND THE STRUCTURE OF RhINOPHRYNUS DOR- 



SALis. By Dr. Albert Gunther. 



The organ which in the tailless Batrachians offers the most re- 

 markable character, and which is most closely connected with their 

 mode of life, is the toiu/ve. Wagler has already separated from 

 the other Ranldce a group without tongue, Aylossce, comprising all 

 other Ranidce under the name Phaneroglossce, which have a tono-ue 

 entirely adherent in front. This division was also afterwards accepted 

 by Bibron, who changed the name of Aylossce into that of Phnjno- 

 (jlosscB. The separation of the tirst group appears the more justifi- 

 able, as Miiller came to the same result by another principle. I 

 now add a third form, hitherto very imperfectly known, and the 

 tongue of which is not yet described. Rhinophnjnus dorsalis is the 

 only Batrachian which has a tongue free in front, with the anterior 

 tip capable of being stretched out of the mouth. The details are as 

 follows: — The base of the cavity of the mouth is occupied by the 

 tongue. The front part of this organ is rather narrow and cylindrical, 

 with an obtuse rounded tip, of a similar shape to that of one of the 

 small Rodentia ; the front part is quite free ; somewhat anterior to the 

 middle of its length it is fixed to the base of the mouth by a frenu- 

 lum ; behind this it becomes gradually broader, and is fi.xed on each 

 side by a muscular pad. Tlie hinder edge is rounded, not notched, 

 entirely adherent, and exhibiting only a transverse slightly prominent 

 swelling. The tongue is entirely soft, with a velvet-like surface, 

 covered with papUloi filiformes, which gradually become longer 

 behind ; and whereas the front tip of the tongue is again capable 

 of being stretched out of the mouth, both halves of the mvsculus 

 genioglossits are well developed, forming the very base of the eavitv 

 of the mouth. 



I propose to divide the Batrnchia amira into three groups : — 



