1907,] ON THE ANATOMY OF THE PELOBATIDiE. 871 



4. Contributions to the Knowledge of the Anatomy o£ the 

 Batrachian Family Pelohatidce. By Frank E. Beddard, 

 M.A., F.R.S., Prosector to the Society. 



[Received September 26, 1907.] 

 (Text-figs. 229-240.) 



Contents. 



(1) Introductory, p. 871. 



(2) Some Notes upon the Auatomj"- of Megalophrys montana, p. 872. 



(3) On IZenophrys and Leptohracliium, p. 878. 



(4) Definition of the Family Pelobatidse, p. 904. 



(5) The Genera of Pelobatida;, p. 905. 



(6) Affinities of the Pelobatida, p. 910. 



(1) Introductory. 



In a recent communication to this tSociety* I dealt with a 

 number of points in the anatomy of a Frog apparently identical 

 with Ceratophryne Qiasuia of Schlegel { = 3Iegalophr9js nasuta auct.). 

 1 was unable at the time to compare this frog with any other 

 member of the family Pelobatidfe, save only Pelobates fuscus. 

 Since then Sir E. Ray Lankester has been so good as to entrust 

 to me for study one example each of Megalophrys montana, Xeno- 

 phrys monticola, and Leptohrachimn hasseltii. I am able, therefore, 

 in the present communication to the Society, to express some 

 opinions with regard to the family Pelobatidfe and the inter- 

 relationship of some of the genera or alleged genera belonging to 

 that family. The three genera with which I deal in this contri- 

 bution were admitted as such by Mr. Boulenger in his ' Catalogue 

 of the Batrachia Salientia ' t, and have been quite recently accepted 

 (with the exception of Xenophrys) by Dr. Gadow in the volume 

 of the ' Cambridge Natural History ' devoted to Reptiles and 

 Amphibia +. Mr. Boulenger himself, however, previously to the 

 publication of the last-mentioned work, had expressed the view 

 that it was impossible to retain both the genera Xenophrys and 

 Leptohrachimn, and therefore merged the former in the latter §. 

 This alteration was due to the discovery of Megalophrys fece, a 

 frog showing the general structure of Leptohrachimn. It was 

 originally referred to Megalophrys, partly at least on account of the 

 projections of horny skin above the eyes, which are met with in 

 all of the previously known species of Megalophrys. Mr. Boulenger 

 did not, however, as I understand him, combine all the three 

 genera with which I deal in the present paper, viz. Megalophrys, 

 Xenophrys, and Leptohrachium, into one genus. But my own 

 observations upon Megalophrys nasuta, to which I have referred, 



* P. Z. S. 1907, p. 324. t London, 1882, p. 443. 



X Vol. viii. London, 1901, p. 161. 



§ Ann. Mus. Geneva, ser. 2, iv. p. 512, vii. p. 750. 



