AMPHIBIANS 65 



other side, as though the left side had been the smallest. There are several holes through the 

 cartilage, like the one in the Sternum of the Gigantic Salamander; and fig. 14 shows a double 

 oblique bevelling for the pectorals ; also a keel, the prototype of the great " entosternum " of the 

 Bird. But the keel for the recti abdominis is the largest, and makes the short xiphisternum to 

 be trihedral. The inner part of the Sternum is shown in fig. 15 ; it is bounded by the 

 coracoid grooves in front, and by the concavity for the heart behind. Here I may refer to 

 a section of these parts in the Smooth Newt, which throws light upon the same struc- 

 tures in the Amphibia Urodela generally. Plate III, fig. 14, shows the lower part of the 

 thorax of an adult Lissotriion in a vertically transverse section and as magnified fifty diameters. 

 The lower edge of the epicoracoids (e. cr.) are seen to rest on the shallow coracoid groove ; 

 the Sternum is seen to be somewhat concave at the mid-region, and thick submesially. This 

 thick part indicates the place of the first deposit of cartilage, and is persistently, as it was 

 originally, inside the lower lips of the Shoulder-girdle. The pectorals (p. m.) are seen with the 

 tendinous raphe uniting them in the middle ; whilst the cutis vera (c. v.) and the cuticle (c. t.) 

 complete the cincture. 



Example 4. Salamandra maculosa, Laurenti. 



My other instance of this group is the Common Salamander, and, thanks to Mr. Tegetmeir, 

 I am able to give dissections of four individuals, of different ages. The youngest specimen was 

 one inch seven lines in length ; and the figures of its Shoulder-girdle (Plate IV, figs. 5 and 6) 

 are magnified twelve diameters. The supra-scapula (s. sc.) is fan-shaped, and nas its anterior 

 angle notched ; the scapula (sc.) is the only part ossified (this condition agrees with my first 

 group) ; and it is much like, although less slender than, the scapula of the Proteus. The triangular 

 coracoid cleft is not deep ; and the broad prse-coracoid (p. cr.) is somewhat rounded at its free 

 end : the glenoid cavity (gl.) is deep, acute anteriorly, and sharply lipped ; in front of it is the 

 very constant foramen. The rest of the plate of cartilage is oval and very large (fig. 6, cr., e. cr.), 

 and overlaps its fellow to a very great extent. The Sternum (st.) is relatively smaller than in 

 the Newt ; its cells are younger than those of the Shoulder-plates ; and in this stage the xiphoid 

 process has not appeared. The flap on the right side is of more delicate tissue than the rest, 

 and altogether appears to be of an independent growth ; the flap on the other side " left lower 

 coracoid lip" is pointed and projecting, anteriorly. The muscular grooves are well seen crossing 

 each other, and dividing the whole Sternum into four lozenge-shaped territories. The next stage 

 is seen in fig. 7 ; it is the left moiety of the Shoulder-plate of one nearly adult, magnified five 

 diameters : the main thing to be noticed in this specimen is, besides the relative stoutness, the 

 advent of two new bones the pra3-coracoid (p. cr.) and the coracoid (cr.). The nerve-foramen 

 is at the front of the suture between these two bones ; altogether their development is very 

 much like what we have seen in the Newt. In Plate IV, fig. 9, the whole Shoulder-girdle and 

 Sternum of this specimen are seen from below ; this figure shows the rounded prse-coracoid and 

 epicoracoid flaps (p. cr., e. cr.) ; the overlapping of the latter; and the triangular Sternum (st.) 

 with its foot-shaped xiphoid process. The lower coracoid lip of the right side is seen to be very 

 large, and to be separated for one fourth its length by a clean-cut fissure from the rest of the 

 Sternum : I may remark, that although I found no essential difference in the Sternum of the 

 individuals dissected yet no two were alike in minor points. 

 9 



