ORDER BATRACHIA. 477 



bladder is very ample. In the stomach of one of these ani- 

 mals, which is very thick and coriaceous, was found a small 

 shell-molluscum, which indicates the species of nutriment on 

 which this reptile lived, although it could not be brought to 

 eat any thing in a state of captivity. There succeeds to the 

 stomach a narrow intestine, which makes three folds before 

 it terminates at the rectum. The heart, situated between the 

 fore-feet, has but a single ventricle and auricle, and the 

 lungs similar to those of the salamanders, have the form of 

 simple and slender tubes, each terminated by a vesiculary 

 dilatation. The spleen and pancreas are long and narrow, 

 and the kidneys very long and narrow in front, widen to- 

 wards the anus, into which they open. M. de Schreibers 

 thinks that he has recognized some traces of ovaria. 



The skeleton of the proteus resembles that of the sala- 

 manders, except that it has many more vertebrae, and fewer 

 rudiments of ribs. But the osseous head is totally different 

 from theirs in its general conformation, and approximates to 

 that of the siren in a very marked manner. It is provided 

 only with pterygoidean bones, and is without crest, and alto- 

 gether more depressed than the cranium of the siren. The 

 parietals also advance less to the side of the frontals, which 

 occupy a longer and wider space in proportion. The orbitals 

 and the ossa petrosa are also much less elevated. The nasal 

 bones are mere rudiments, and slide between the intermax- 

 illaries, which have long ascending processes, and the edge 

 of which is armed with a range of eight or ten teeth. 



Behind these intermaxillary teeth a parallel range is ob- 

 served, which may be supposed to belong to the vomeres. 

 These last have each twenty-four small teeth, and are conti- 

 nued back, with an osseous branch also furnished with some 

 teeth. This proceeds to attach itself to the internal edge of 

 the tympanic bone, having a void between it and the basis of 

 the cranium. There are neither maxillary nor palatine bones. 



