GENERA OF THE AROIFEROUS ANURA. 103 



Branchise or fissures present or absent ; vertebrje amphi- or opisthoccBlian ; tarsus 

 and carpus cartilaginous or osseous. — 



Families Amphiumidae, Protonopsidae, Desmognathidae, Ple- 

 thodontidae, Amblystomidae, Hynobiidae, Salamandridae, 

 Pleurodelidae, 



PROTEIDA. 



This suborder was established by J. Miiller, and is the same as the Proteidse of 

 Gray. 



But one species of Proteus is generally recognized, though Fryer* in 1846 pointed 

 out the probable existence of a second, and Fitzinger in 1850f described and named 

 seven. The latter author had over four hundred specimens at his disposal, and gives 

 good diagnoses from external characters, including color. The latter feature is 

 liable to change of shade according to Michahelles,+ who states that of twenty speci- 

 mens kept by him, only six retained their original flesh color after a lapse of some 

 months, the remainder becoming bluish black. Dr. Fitzinger promised to make 

 public the results of an anatomical study of his species, but has not yet, to my 

 knowledge, accomplished it. In the meantime I drew up the following characters of 

 five undoubted species from seven skeletons, types of the above, preserved in the 

 private museum of Prof. Hyrtl, in Vienna. 



A. Two condyles on the o. o. supraoccipitale. 



Longitudinal and transverse occipital crests none. Vertebrge 23. Premaxillary 



teeth, seven each side ; mandibulars seventeen, no teeth on the o. operculare. From 



coronoid process to angle of ramus, nearly as long as from coronoid to symphysis. 



Muzzle narrowed, canthus rostralis weak, . . . . . . z o i s i i. 



AA. No condjdes on the supraoccipitale. 



I. Twenty-three dorsa,l vertebrae; an occipital crest. 



Premaxillary teeth eight, mandibulars twenty-one, a few operculars. Coronoid 

 process scarcely developed. Muzzle, and hence the o. o. frontalia exceedingly slen- 

 der ; latter, with the parietals convex, (? from drying ?) . . . c a r r a r ae. 



II. Twenty-five to six dorsal vertebrae ; a longitudinal occipital crest. 

 a. No teeth on o. operculare; premaxillaries 8 — 9. 



21 — 2 mandibulars; from coronoid process to angle much shorter than from former 



to symphysis ; no groove below coronoid process. Muzzle longer than following ; 



o. o. frpntalia concave medially, parietalia plane ; canthus rostralis strong, 



x a n t h o s t i c t u s. 



* Archiv. fiir Naturgeschichte, 189. 



t Sitzungsberichte Wieuer Academie, 291. 



i Isis von Oken, 1831, 505. 



