370 Prof. J. van der Hoeveu on the Gentis Menobranclius 



A figure much more characteristic than that of Lacepede has 

 been given by the naturahst Harlan, in the first volume of the 

 'Annals of the New York Lyceum' already cited (pi. 16, Me- 

 nobranchus lateralis^). 



Fitzinger, without adding anything to our knowledge of the 

 genus, gave it the new name of Phanerohranchus instead of 

 Menohranchus. 



There can be no doubt that the first impression made by a 

 comparison of the Menohranchus with the Hell-bender is that 

 the two animals have a very great resemblance, and that it is 

 almost solely by the presence of the branchial tufts and the 

 tetradactyle hind feet that the Menohranchus is distinguishable 

 from the Cryptohranchus of the Alleghanies or from that of 

 Japan. Without having the enormous bulk of these two reptiles, 

 the Menohranchus is yet a very large species as compared with 

 the Tritons and Salamanders, and attains the length of fourteen 

 inches f. 



If we except the character of the branchial tufts and the lateral 

 fissures on the neck, we may arrange all these doubtful reptiles 

 in two groups, — one of which, by its elongated and cylindrical 

 form, approaches the Siren ; the other, by its more depressed 

 and much shorter body, more nearly resembles the Salamander. 

 It was this method that I adopted in my Manual. The "Angui- 

 form'' subdivision contains the genera Siren, Hypochthoa (or 

 Proteus), and Amphiuma; while that of the CordyliniJ embraces 

 the genera Menohranchus, Cryptohranchus, and Siredon (Axolotl), 

 However, as the result of my subsequent examination of Meno- 



omnes, absque unguiculis. Ani rima iu longitudinem patet. Branchiae 

 utrinque teruse extus propendent, appositse superne totidem arcubus car- 

 tilagineis, quorum latus internum tubercula cartilaginea, veluti in piscium 

 genere, exasperant. Branchialis apertura gemina utrinque adest tantum ; 

 infiraus enira et supremus arcus branchiarum cuti adnatus est." (Historiac 

 Amphibiorum naturalis et litterariae Fasciculus primus, Jenae 1799j 8vo, 

 pp. 50-51.) Cuvier was acquainted with this description, and speaks of it 

 in connexion with the Axolotl, to which he seemed rather inclined to apply 

 it, supposing that some error had arisen as to the number of the toes. It 

 is astonishing that, although attached to the same establishment, and 

 residing in the Jardin des Plantes, Cuvier was ignorant of the existence of 

 the animal which Lacepede described almost about the same time. 



* Copied in Griffith's 'Animal Kingdom/ Rept. p. 476. 



t Lacepede's specimen was only 150 millimetres; but the smallest of 

 the two which I have received measures more than double that, and the 

 other one 362 millims. The best figure of this great Batrachian which I 

 am acquainted with is that published last year by Prince Maximilian of 

 Neuwied in the ' Nova Acta Acad. Cajsar. Leopoldino-Carolinse,' tom. xxxii. 

 l.tab. 7. 



X " We may apply to the larva; of the Salamanders the name of ' cor- 

 dyles,' which, according to M. Schneider's remark, they bore among the 

 Greeks." (Cuv. Rech. sur les Rept. dout. p. 93.) 



