200 



BULLETIN 34, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



t3pe aud specimens from near the Kanawha River, in southwestern 

 Virginia, iu the Philadelphia Academy Museum, the Smithsonian con- 

 tains the following: 



Desmogiiathus nigra Green. 



Ca,talo;;uo 

 number. 



3880 

 3023 



Number 

 of spec. 



Locality. 



Geoifriii 



Abbeville, S. C 



Giles Couuty, Va . 

 Wythe County, Va 



Wbence and bow 

 obtaiued. 



Dr. W. L. Junpp. 

 I)r. .J. B. Barratt. 

 E. D. Cope. 

 Col. M. McDonald. 



SALAMANDRID^.* 



Gray Procoad. Zool. Soc. Loudou, 1858, p. 142. Cope, Journ. Ac. Phil., 

 1866, p. 107. 



Ko ethmoid bone. Palatines with T:)osterior separate processes ex- 

 tending over the parasphenoid, bearing teeth on their inner margiu-s. 

 Prefrontals and pterygoids present. Parietal entirely separated from 

 prefrontals by broad frontals. Orbitosphenoid confluent with j)rootic. 

 No dentigerous plates on the parasphenoid. No postfrouto squamosal 

 arch. The ceratohyal free, connected with the quadrate by ligament. 

 Carpus and tarsus osseous. Vertebrae opisthoccelous. No otoglossal 

 cartilage. 



The hyoid apparatus in this family is like that of the Plethodontidse. 

 There is a hypohyal on each side of the anterior extremity of the basi- 

 branchial which does not articulate with the ceratohyal. In Triturus, 

 Salamandra, and [leinisalamandiM, it is short (Plate 36, fig. 8) ; while 

 in Chioglossa it is recurved posteriorly, passing under the ceratohyal 

 of each side, and almost reaching the basibranchial again near the point 

 of origin of the ceratobranchial (Plate 36, fig. 9). It thus forms a nearly 

 complete circle, supporting the circumference of the tongue. This 

 circle has the same function as that in Amblystoma, but is of different 

 homological value. Appropriately to this functional resemblance to 

 the American forms, the proximate extremity of the ceratohyal is at- 

 tached to the distal extremity of the suspensorium, but by ligament. 

 In Hemisalamandra, on the other hand, it is attached to the proxi nal 

 part of the same by ligament, thus furnishing a condition intermediate 

 between the types of Chioglossa and of Diemyctylus. 



This family is confined to the Old World. It embraces the following 

 genera : 



I. Maxillary and pterygoid bones separate, the former not reaching quadrate. 

 a. No ligamentous postfrouto- squamosal arch. 



Tongue large, free, except on the anterior half of the median Hue; teeth in 



two longitudinal curved series Chioglossa, 



Tongue large, scarcely free at edges; teeth in two longitudinal curved se- 

 ries Salamandra. 



Tonguesmall, notfree; teeth iu twostraight piirallel series.. Hemisalamandra, 



Phiic :i7 



