^ova ^cta Academice jYatiircB Curiosorum. 485 



perhaps to the stems which are abundantly met with in the deeper seated 

 strata of the same braunkohl formation. As these leaves chiefly belong 

 to trees inhabiting humid situations, it is not surprising that they should 

 be accompanied by remains of marsh and water animals, and of such 

 insects as live either in the water or on trees. A large collection of such 

 remains has within these few years been formed in the Bonn museum : 

 some have been already made known ; and the remainder of the present 

 paper contains descriptions of the reptiles of the extensive series thus 

 collected. The insects, we are informed, belong chiefly to the genera 

 Lucanvs, Meloe, Dytiscus, Buprestis, Cantharis, Cerambyx, Paran- 

 dra, Belostoma, Cercopis, Locusta, Anthrax and Tabanus. A small 

 crab has been noticed by Dr. Bronn, and there are also three remark- 

 able Branchiopodous Crustacea, the largest of which exceeds an inch 

 in diameter. The impressions of Fishes appear to belong to two disiinct 

 species, the smaller of which has been published by Dr. Bronn under 

 the name of Cyprinus carbonarius ; the second, which is twice as large, 

 is rarely found as a perfect impression, but more commonly, although 

 still rare, as a mutilated skeleton. 



The first of the fossil reptiles from this curious formation is the Rana 

 diluviana, Goldf., bones of which are rarely found in good preservation, 

 but their impressions are frequently so perfect as to give a clear indication 

 of the form of the entire skeleton. It is considerably larger than the 

 common green frog of the vicinity, {Rana esculenta), and is distin- 

 guished from it, at the first glance, by the shortness of its body in 

 proportion to the length of its head ; the body of the green frog being 

 almost 2| times, while that of the fossil species scarcely exceeds 1| times, 

 as long as the head. Other differences between the skeletons of the two 

 animals are pointed out, and that of the fossil is described in detail with 

 occasional references to the structure of other existing species, with which 

 it is also compared. It is remarkable that the Rana diluviana occurs not 

 only in various stages of its growth as a perfect animal, but also in its 

 process of transformation, in the tailed and tadpole state. In this latter 

 state it is also described and figured. 



A second Batrachian reptile is the Salamandra Ocpjgia, Goldf., found 



