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if22 UULLKTIN :U, IJNITKI) MTATKS NATIONAL MUSIUJM. 



.tllipliiilniit iiiiiiiiH <iiiril. 



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c.kciliidj:. 



Jpoda 0]i\n'} ; I'uriiilnpliid'Ki DriJI, 



N'c'itt'bra'i iimpliicji^loii.s, with iinterior doiiblc li.vpopopliy.se.s. Vo.sti- 

 biilo with iiitcnial wall o koou.s. lOtliinoid well (Icvcloitcd. !S(|iiain()- 

 salami parietal more or les.s c.xteiKlcd over tcmporaMb.s.sa. 8<!apiilar 

 and polvii! arclit'.s waiitiii}^. ()rl)it smrouiuU'd by tlu> ina.\ Ilar.y bone. 

 Liver iiiii(!ii .subdivided. Teste.s, several 01 eaeli side. Two protractile 

 niiisides of llic male rectum, wliieli project a port on of it as an iiitroiiiil- 

 teiit or^aii. 



This family lias been usually rejjarded as rei>reseutiiiy a distinct order 

 of l>atra(;liia. I have di.scus.sed this ques'. ion under the head of tli*^ or 

 der Urodehi, within which I have placed it as a suborder, which should 

 bear JJe iJlainville's name Pseudophidia. Hesides the structural pecu- 

 liarities already pointed out, I'eters and Sarasin have shown the 

 brauciiial apparatus of (he larva to be peculiar. Inst ad of form in jj 

 loops ill fibrilhe of jir. cesses of the branchial arches, the branchial vein 

 and artery ramify on t lie surface of membianous bladder-like expan- 

 sions of the arches. 



The numerous species of this family are distributed throu<;h(Uit all 

 tropical rej;ious except those of the Australian realm. They are most 

 abundant in tropical America. Their liabits ai-e subterranean, their 

 lives beinji" mostly spent in the nests (»f ants, wliicii they eat. Al tiie 

 proper .season tliey repair to thc^ water and dejtosit their ejJTfjs. The 

 larva; pass thronj;h their metamorphosis early in life. All of the spe- 

 cies are nearly blind. 



This family appears to me to have been derived from the ley-bearinj^- 

 Urodela throuji'li the Amphiimida', by a jiroeess of de<feneration. Addi- 

 tional evidence in favor of this view is found in the discovery by Stras- 

 ser, of small cartilages in the position of the inferior elements by the 

 scapular arch. This degeneration may be regarded as the result of the 



