m 



r> 



r. 



THE BATRACIIIA OV NORTH AMERICA. 391, 



The ineiubers of tbi.s family show no great dillereiicoin the structiuo 

 of the sternal apparatus. The i)recoraeoi(ls are always present, their 

 axis being parallel with that of the coracoids, and their distal extrem- 

 ity resting upon that of the latter. The precoracoids are much weaker 

 than the coracoids. In most genera an omosternum and a sternum are 

 well developed, and furnished with a bony style. In Oxyglossns, Ily- 

 lixalus, and Prostherapis the sternum lacks the bony style, and so does 

 also the omosternum in Nanuophrys and Phyllodromus. 



The vertebra' are proccelous. The urostyle is attached to two con- 

 dyles. There are no ribs. 



A frontoparietal fontanelle is constantly absent. 



The distal phalanges may bo simple, pointed, or subtriangular, T- 

 shaped, Y shaped, or even claw-shaped (Ilylambates), the latter struct- 

 ure being met with elsewhere in the Hylidie, Amphignarhodontida', and 

 llemiphractidie only. 



^lembers of the Kani«he existe<l during the Miocene ])eriod. Th<' re- 

 mains of BiDui merimii * indicate a species as large as R. eHciiIcntn. h'aiia 

 noe{j(ierathi, also from the liraunkohle near Bonn, was a small specics) 

 of which I have not been able to learu the form of the sternum. If 

 the species was not a Kana, it did not belong to any other (existing ge- 

 nus of the family. The genus Asphieritint (found in the Oeningen 

 bed) possessed a humerus without termi'^al condyle. This may be the 

 result of accident to the skeleton. 



The skeletiil nuHlitications iu this family are those of the ethmoid and 

 prefrontal bones and of the posterior extremity. 



The genera of the lianidie are as follows : 



I. Extunial iiietatarHals buuud together ; ouiosteruuui and sturimm both without 



OSSC0U8 style. 

 Pupil vertical ; tongue einargiuato ; vomerine teeth ; toes free 



XaiDiobatrachus Blgr. 



Pupil horizoutiil ; tongue eniarginatc ; vomerine teeth ; toes frec^ 



XaniiDjthriifi Gthr. 



II. External metatarsi bound ; omosternum with style ; sternum without style. 



Pupil horizontal; tongue heart-shaped; no vomerine teelh ; toes wcbln-d, 



tips with disk Ilyluuliis Esp. 



Pupil horizontal; tongue entire; no vonu-riue teeth; toes free; tips witu 



disks 1'rontlicrtiiiin Co\}ti, 



Like Prostherapis, l>ut the tongue enuirginate (Blgr.) I'liiillohaltx t IJibr. 



III. External metatarsi bound together; ouiosteruum without, sternum with, os- 

 seous style. 

 Pupil horizontal; tongue entire ; no vomerine teeth; toes free ; tips with 



disks I'hijUodromus Esp. 



* Von Meyer, Paheontographica, III, p. 127. 



t l. rviisaii Von Meyer, I. c, II., p. (Jnt. 



tTliis genus, which I placed provisionally in the Uystignathidao, not having seen 

 the sternum, belongs here according to Houlenger, The uauiu must be, therefore, 

 erased from the table ou page 313. 



■ I 



ni 



