294 Mr. G. A. Boulenger on 



rentj althougli evidently belonging to the genus Higginsia 

 in other respects, there are several dry specimens in the 

 British Museum, of which No. 18 is the largest. No. 40 is 

 an elkhorn-shaped, rat-tailed, Hat, branched variety, and Nos. 

 16, 17, and 19, all more or less like that above described, 

 and all registered 71. 5. 12. 1 &c. 



Gen. ohs. In many of the Ectyonida there are flesh- 

 spicules, viz. equianchorates, bihamates, or tricurvates, and 

 these may be alone or combined. The anchorate is generally 

 of that kind termed navicular from its boat-like form, ^. e. sharp 

 at each end ; the bihamate a small simple C- or S-shaped one ; 

 and the tricurvate also small and simple. In one instance, 

 however, the anchorate is " angulate," that is, the shaft is 

 bow-shaped and turned up at the ends (see Bowerbank's 

 illustration, Mon. Brit. Spong. vol. i. pi. vi. fig. 143), cha- 

 racterizing the Plumohalichondrina ; but in the rest the 

 flesh-spicules do not seem to be of much specific value, on 

 account of the sameness of their form. One more observation 

 I would add here, viz. that the curve of the acuate skeletal 

 spicule in the ECHINONEMA is so generally on one side the 

 middle, and towards the obtuse end, that when I see this I 

 feel almost confident that the sponge from which it came 

 belongs to this order. 



[To be continued.] 



XXVIII. — Remarks on a Paper hy Prof. E. D. Cope on the 

 Reptiles of the Province Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. By 

 G. A. Boulenger. 



Prop. Cope's " Twelfth Contribution to the Herpetology 

 of Tropical America"^, contains a list of Reptiles and 

 Batrachians from the Province Rio Grande do Sul, collected 

 by the " Naturalist Brazilian Exploring Expedition." Having 

 lately been engaged in naming large series of specimens from 

 the same country, transmitted to the Natural-History Museum 

 by the zealous Dr. H. von Ihering, and which have afforded 

 material for several contributions published in these ' Annals ' f, 

 I am able to present a few critical remarks on Prof. Cope's 

 identifications and new species. Besides, the nomenclature 

 adopted by the American herpetologist differs in so many 



* Proc. Amer. Phil. Sue. xxii. pp. 167-194 ; April 1885. 

 t March, April, and August numbers, 1885. 



