342 MR. F. E. BEDDARD ON THE ANATOMY [Apr. 9, 



Pelohates. I could find no splint-bone, such as Eidewood has 

 figured in Pelodytes as l^^ing upon the posterioi- edge of the body of 

 the hyoid among the fibres of the sterno-hyoid muscle whose in- 

 sertion reaches quite to this edge. The body of the hyoid contained 

 no ossified tracts such as are sometimes met with in this cartilage 

 in othei' Fi'Ogs. The strongly ossified thyrohyals lie, as already 

 mentioned, at a considerable angle w^ith the body of the hyoid. 

 The cartilaginous epiphysis of the same is not a cap at the free 

 end, but is attached to the outer edge and is somewhat curved. 

 It suggests a separate but rudimentary upper element of this 

 branchial arch — if it really be one, and not a mere process of the 

 body of the hyoid. Dr. Ride wood quotes Mr. Boulenger's opinion 

 ''that the hyoidean cornua were disjointed in all those genera 

 which he includes in the family Pelobatidc-e." * My own results do 

 not enable rne to support fully this assertion. I would rather say 

 that among the Pelobatid* tne hyoidean cornua are clearly on the 

 road to disappearance. Dr. Ridewood has pointed out several 

 points of likeness between these structures in the Agiossa and in 

 the Pelobatidse. I may add that the disappeai'ance of the anterior 

 cornua in Megalojihrys nasuta and Xeno'phrys monticola is also 

 to be observed in Pipa. 



§ Mihscles of Shoulder and Arm. 



The muscles arising from or inserted into the scapula appear 

 to be the same in Megcdoi^hrys as in Rana ; for I identified the 

 following, viz.: — Borsalis sccqndce^ Rhomhoideiis anterior, Kh. pos- 

 terior, Levator scapidce s^vperior, L. s. inferior, Cucidlaris, Serratus 

 superior, /S. medius, S. inferior, Inter scaptdaris, and Omohyoideus ; 

 besides others of which a further account seems to be desirable. 

 There are two of these, viz., the deltoid, and a muscle of which I 

 find no account in Gaupp's edition of Ecker, and which I term 

 scapido-humeralis. I have already referred to the pars episternalis 

 of the deltoid. The only further point to be remarked upon is 

 the apparently total absence of a clavicidar head, which head I 

 found to be very conspicuous in the large Rana guppyi. 



The scapido-humeralis is a small slender muscle running from 

 the scapula to the neck of the humerus, between the scapular and 

 adjoining humeral heads of the anconeus. I found this muscle in 

 Rana guppyi. 



§ Muscles of Thigh. 



The thigh-muscles of Megalophrys &rQ in many respects difterent 

 from those of Rana. 



The most salient difierence is seen on the inside of the thigh 

 when the skin is removed, and concerns the Semitendinosus. This 

 muscle is then evident without further dissection, and is not at 

 all covered by the two Graciles. The tendon of insertion of these 

 two latter muscles in fact, instead of passing over the tendon of 



* Jouni. Linn. Soc. vol. xxvi. p. 53. 



