BATRACHIANS. 73 



The species formerly known, Rana pipa, L. ; Seb. I, lxxvii; 

 Daud. xxxi, xxxii, is found at Cayenne and Surinam, in dark places 

 about the houses. Its back is granulated, with three longitudinal 

 ranges of larger granules. When the ova are expelled, the male 

 places them on the back of the female, and there fecundates them; 

 the latter then proceeds to the water, the skin of her back swells 

 and forms cells, in which the eggs are hatched. The life of the Tad- 

 pole is passed in the water, and it does not leave it until it has lost 

 its tail, and acquired feet. It is at this time also that the mother re- 

 turns to land. 



Spix figures one of them pi. xxii, at least a closely allied spe- 

 cies, — Pipa curururu, Spix, — from the bottom of the Brazilian 

 lakes, and asserts that the female does not carry her young; he 

 does not inform us, however, that he observed her during the whole 

 year*. 



Salamandra, Brongn. 



The Salamanders have an elongated body, four feet and a long tail, 

 which give them the general form of Lizards, so that Linnseus left them 

 in that genus: but they have all the characters of Batrachians. 



Their head is flattened ; the ear completely hidden under the muscles, 

 without any tympanum, having nothing but a small cartilaginous plate on 

 the fenestra ovalis ; the two jaws furnished with numerous and small teeth ; 

 two longitudinal rows of similar teeth in the palate, but attached to bones 

 analogous to the vomer; the tongue as in the Frogs; no third eye-lid; a 

 skeleton with very small rudiments of ribs, but without a bony sternum; a 

 pelvis suspended from the spine by ligaments ; four toes before, and almost 

 always five behind. In their adult state, respiration is performed as in 

 Frogs and Tortoises. Their Tadpoles at first breathe by means of bran- 

 chiae resembling tufts, three on each side of the neck, which are sub- 

 sequently obliterated; they are suspended to cartilaginous arches, vestiges 

 of which remain in the hyoid bone of the adult. A membranous oper- 

 culum covers these openings, but the tufts are never enclosed by a tunic, 

 and always float externally. The fore feet are developed before the hind 

 ones; and the toes in both feet appear successively. 



Salamandra, Laur. 



The Terrestrial Salamanders have in their perfect state the round tail ; 

 they inhabit the water only during their tadpole condition, which is but a 

 short period, or when the female is ready to bring forth. The eggs are 

 hatched in the oviduct. 



The terrestrial species of France have a gland analogous to that 

 of the Toad, on each side of the occiput. 



Salam. maculosa, Laur.; Lac. II, pi. xxx; Lacert. salamandra, 

 L. (The common Salamander.) Black, with large spots of a bright 

 yellow ; rows of tubercles on the sides, from which, when the animal 



* There is a true Pipa in the King's Cabinet, from Rio Negro, which is entirely 

 smooth, and with an unusually narrow head. It will be my Pipa la-vis, very differ- 

 ent from that of Me-rrem, which is a Dactylethra. 



