892 MR. F. E, BEDDARD ON THE [Nov. 26, 



hasseltii the proportions of body-length to total sternal length 

 (including omosternum) are 10 : 3'2,and of body-length to length 

 of true sternum 10 : 1'8. Megaloj^hrys montana clearly comes 

 nearer to Leptohrachium than to its congener or to Xeno'phrys, 

 for the two sets of proportions are (in the order adopted) 10 : 3"5 

 and 10 : 1'7. Translating these numbers into words, Xenophrys 

 monticola and Megcdophrys nasuta fall into one group charac- 

 terised by a long stei"num, while Megcdophrys inontana and 

 Lep)tohrachiu7)i hasseltii agree with each other in possessing a 

 short sternum. 



In Felohates f%(jscus the body-length was 47 mm., the total length 

 of the sternal region including the omosternum 16 mm., and the 

 length of the true sternum 9 mm. The actual proportions are 

 therefore, as treated above in the Oriental Pelobatidpe, 10 : 3 "4 

 and 10 : 1'9. These numbers hardly fill up the gap between the 

 Pelobatidse with a short sternum and those which possess a long 

 sternum ; they show that Pelohates is referable to the former 

 group. I have already pointed out* that the form of the sternum 

 proper differs in Megcdophrys nasuta and M. montana, especially 

 in the form of the cartilaginous plate in which it ends posteriorly. 

 Xenophrys and Leptohrachiihm agree with each other and with 

 Megcdophrys nasuta, Pelohates, &c. in that the xiphisternum is a 

 wide cheesecutter-shaped cartilaginous plate, differing thus from 

 that of Megcdophrys montana. In neither Xenophrys nor Lepto- 

 hrachium does the sternum extend so far as the end of the larger 

 (left) lobe of the liver. 



In dissecting the sternal musculature of Xenophrys m,onticola 

 I have noticed a sheet of stiff fibrous tissue which extends 

 laterally along each side of the sternum and overlies the sterno- 

 hyoideus muscle. This is not an aponeurosis connected with 

 that muscle or with any other muscle. The muscle is quite free 

 from it and unconnected by any fibres. It seems to be an 

 extension of the sternum itself latei'ally. It may indeed be 

 regarded as morphologically part of the sternum ; and, if this 

 suggestion is correct, it brings the sternum of this Pelobatid more 

 into line with that of some other Batrachia Salientia. A broad 

 expanded sternum is, for instance, a character of the Aglossa. 

 This is not urged, of course, as necessary evidence of special 

 afiinity with the Aglossa ; for other genera belonging to the 

 Phaneroglossa have .also a broader sternum than is typical among 

 the Pelobatidfe. It is not, however, at variance with such a view 

 which other facts referred to support. 



§ Hyokl Muscles and Ccortilages. 



The relations of the rectus abdominis and the sternohyoideus 

 in Xenophrys monticola are very unlike those of Pcona and very 

 like those of Megcdophrys ncosuta. When the pectoralis posterior 



* Supra, p. 874-. 



