REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS FROM NEW GUINEA. 175 
tympanum equals half that of the orbit, statements which shows a very 
great ressemblance to C. solomonis Buer.! from Shortland, Treasury and 
Faro Islands. 
Fam. ENGYSTOMATIDAE. 
Choanacantha gen. nov. 
Pupil horizontal. Tongue large, circular, slightly nicked behind, per- 
fectly adherent in front an behind, free only at the sides, with two linear 
furrows along the middle and two semicireular ones before the preceeding. 
Palate toothless, palatine bones each with one large straight toothlike bony 
prominence. One dermal transverse denticulated ridge in front of the oeso- 
phagus. Tympanum by no means observable. Fingers and toes perfectly 
free, the tips blunt, feebly dilated. Outer metatarsals separated. Terminal 
phalanges T — shaped. No praecoracoids, no omosternum, sternum a large 
cartilaginous plate. Diapophyses of sacral vertebrae dilated. 
This new genus is very closely allied to PETERS and Dorta’s Xeno- 
batrachus,? but differs in the tongue, which is perfectly adherent behind ; 
in the single toothlike bony prominence on each palatine bone ; in the per- 
fectly hidden tympanum ; and in the separated outer metatarsals. 
98. Choanacantha rostrata n. sp. (tab. XIL, fig. 1—11.) 
A single female specimen from Erima. 
Habit stout. Head subtriangular, broader than long, contained about 
twice in the length of the body; snout short, rostrum-like, prolonged, ob- 
tusely pointed, nearly twice as long as the cleft of the orbit; canthus ros- 
tralis indistinct; loreal region nearly vertical; a distinct furrow from the 
eye to the nostril; nostril a little nearer the tip of the snout than the eye; 
eyes small, nearly half the length of the snout; interorbital space three 
times as broad as the upper eyelid. Fingers and toes short, cylindrical, 
feebly dilated and blunt at the tips; subarticular tubercles very indistinct ; 
inner metatarsal tubercle hardly distinguishable, small, roundish; no outer 
metatarsal tubercle; first finger a little shorter than second. Hind limbs 
short; the tibio-tarsal articulation does not reach the axilla. Skin smooth, 
with a few scattered slight tubercles on the upper surface. 
Coloration. Head, body and limbs slate-coloured above, lighter down 
the sides. A dark blackish band along the hinder side of the thighs and a 
triangular dark patch on the sole. Along the middle of the body runs a 
* «On the Reptiles and Batrachians of the Solomon Islands», Transact. Zool. 
Soc. of London, XII. 1890, p. 54. 
* Catalogo dei Rettili e dei Batraci... Austro-Malese. Annali Mus. Genova, 
XIII, 1878, p. 432, tab. VII, fig. 5. 
