402 MR. G. A, BOULENGER ON APODAL BATRACHIANS. [May 21, 



I still think it desirable to retain the Apoda as an order 

 distinct from the Caiidata, in spite of the views expressed by 

 Prof, Cope and the Drs. Sarasin. If the absence of limbs and 

 the reduction of the tail were the only characteristic of the group, 

 I should of course not hesitate to unite the Caecilians with the 

 TJrodeles ; but, to say nothing of the scales, the Caecilian skull 

 presents features which are not shared by any of the tailed 

 Batrachians, and the order can be defined by the cranial characters 

 alone. The resemblance of the larval Ichthyophis to AmjMuma 

 is, after all, superficial ; and although, as I believe, the Apoda and 

 Caudata may have evolved from a common stock, Amphiuma is 

 certainly not the connecting form between the two, as Prof. Cope 

 would have it, for we cannot well assume the scales, lost in the 

 TJrodeles, to have reappeared in the Caecilians. 



I wish, furthermore, to justify the use of the name Apoda for 

 the order often designated as PseudopTiidia, Bah'achopJiidia , Gym- 

 nopliiona, or Peromda. Unless obviously misleading, which is not 

 the case in the present instance, the first-proposed name should 

 supersede all others for higher groups as well as for genera and 

 species, and '■'Apoda" has the benefit of the law of priority. In the 

 first subdivision of the Batrachians into two famihes by Dumeril 

 in 1806 (Zool. Anal. pp. 90-94) these groups are termed " Anoures " 

 and " Urodeles " in Preuch, Ecaudati and Caudati in Latin. 

 When Dumeril's pupil, Oppell, in 1811 (Ordn, Eept. p. 72), 

 added the Csecilians, he named the three groups Apoda, Ecaudata, 

 and Caudata. The Latin form being the only one entitled to 

 recognition in zoological nomenclature, it follows that the last 

 mentioned names should be adopted for the three orders into 

 which Batrachians are divided. 



Order APODA. 



No limbs. Tail vestigial or absent. Frontal bones distinct 

 from parietals ; palatines fused with maxillaries. Male with an 

 intromittent copulatory organ. 



Fam. C^ciLiiD^. 



Synopsis of the Genera. 



I. Cycloid scales imbedded in the skin. 



A. Eyes distinct, or concealed under the skin. 

 1 . Two series of teeth in the lower jaw. 



a. Squamosal and parietal bones in contact. 

 Tentacle conical, below and in front of the eye, usually 



much nearer the latter than the noBtril ; circular folds 



angulate on the belly 1. Ichthyophis. 



Tentacle globular, surrounded by a groove, in front of 



the eye 2. Dermophis. 



Tentacle valvular, tentacular groove horseshoe-shaped, 



posterior to the nostril 3. Hypogeophis. 



Tentacle valvular, tentacular groove horseshoe-shaped, 



below the nostril 4, Cecilia. 



