1883.] MR. BOULENGER ON A NEW SPECIES OF BUFO. 139 



epithalami, just as in the Ganoids. Thus, in cerebral structure, as in 

 other respects, the Ganoids and the Teleosteans are as closely related 

 to one another as they are diiferent from the Selachians. 



With respect to the chiasma of the optic nerves, the exact nature 

 of that structure has not yet been properly elucidated either in the 

 Selachians or in the Ganoids. But, whatever may come of such an 

 investigation, the establishment of the existence of a true chiasma 

 in the Ganoids, and of its absence in Teleosteans, can have but little 

 bearing on the question of their affinities, since Wiedersheim has 

 shown that a simple decussation of the fibres of the optic nerves, as 

 in ordinary Teleosteans, takes place in many Lizards. 



I am no great believer in the permanent value of sharply drawn 

 distinctions of any kind in zoology ; but, assuredly, if there is any 

 such distinction to be drawn on the basis of our present knowledge 

 among the higher fishes, it is between the Ganoids and the Plagio- 

 stomes, and not between the Ganoids and the Teleosteans. 



At page 373 of Dr. Giiuther's work 'On the Study of Fishes,' pub- 

 lished in 1880, he affirms broadly and without the least qualification 

 that, though " we find not a few analogous forms in both series " 

 [namely the Ganoidei and the Teleostei], yet " there is no direct 

 genetic relation between those fishes, as some naturalists were inclined 

 to believe." I imagine that I am included among the naturalists thus 

 summarily disposed of, since, in 1876, I expressed the opinion that 

 " in Amia there is an even closer approximation between the Ganoids 

 and the Teleosteans than can at present be shown to exist between 

 any Ganoids and the Dipnoi ; while the differences between the 

 Dipnoi and the Chimseroidei and between the Chimseroidei and the 

 Plagiostomi respectively are not less than those between the Ganoids 

 and the Dipnoi " '; and I objected on these grounds to the adoption 

 of the group of " Palseichthyes " proposed by Dr. Giinther. 



When objections are ignored without being refuted, or even dis- 

 cussed, I suppose that the best way is to emphasize them afresh ; 

 and I do this, on the present occasion, by expressing my conviction, 

 first, that there are no two large groups of animals for which the 

 evidence of a " direct genetic connexion " is better than in the case 

 of the Ganoids and the Teleosteans ; and, secondly, that the proposal 

 to separate the Elasmobranchii, Ganoidei, and Dipnoi of Miiller into 

 a group apart from, and equivalent to, the Teleostei appears to me 

 to be inconsistent with the plainest anatomical relations of these 

 fishes. 



2. Description of a new Species of Bufo from Japan. 

 By G. A. BouLENGER, F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived February 26, 1883.] 

 (Plate XXIII.) 



I have hesitated whether to consider the following form a distinct 

 species or a variety of Bufo vulgaris. After long consideration, I 

 I " On Ceratodiisfm-stcri," P. Z. S. 1876. 



