﻿OADUOIBRANCHiATE UKODELE BATRACHIANS 339 



ELLIPSOGLOSSIDiE. D. & B.— molgidte, Merrem. 



Tongue oblong, oval, free at the sides only ; palate provided with small teeth, 

 disposed in two longitudinal rows, in contact -posteriorly, separated in front in the 

 form of a V, of which the free extremities are directed outward ; two flattened 

 parotids ; fingers and toes 4 — 5, free, short ; tail stout, much compressed. 1 gen., 1 

 sp., (As.) 



HEMIDACTYLID,E. 



Four fingers and four toes; tongue oval, attached in front, and along the middle 

 more free posteriorly ; two rows of palatine teeth, beginning each in a line, with the 

 internal border of the posterior opening of the nares, extending behind it, and con- 

 verging toward each other, and two rows of sphenoidal teeth, separated from the first 

 by an interspace without teeth, and from each other by a wide interval, nearly 

 parallel ; fingers and toes united at base by a membrane, that of the fingers scarcely 

 visible ; fingers and toes short and stout. 1 gen., 1 sp., (Am.) 



Gen. SALAMANDRA.* Wurfbain, Laurenti. 



Char. — Two parotids or glandular protuberances, pierced with numerous pores, 

 very distinct ; a double row of pores upon the back and tail ; a lateral series of porous 

 protuberances, one on each side; "four fingers ai\d five toes to the extremities, tail 

 rounded and conical ;" angular fold ; tongue discs oval, or subcircular, free only at its 

 edges, " slightly posteriorly, at least when retracted ;" two longitudinal series of teeth 

 more or less arched. 



Salamandka maculosa, Laurenti. 



Char. — Body black, skin smooth, with large yellow blotches, irregularly disposed 

 upon the head, the back, the sides, the extremities and the tail ; large parotid glands, 

 yellow for the most part, pierced with numerous pores very distinct ; about 60 teeth 

 in the upper and as many in the lower jaw, and 40 palatine, (giebel.) Length 5 § 

 inches, (Fr.) 



Dumeril and Bibron make three distinct varieties of this species, based upon the 

 differences in the arrangement of the yellow blotches. T. ix., p. 57. Of twelve 

 specimens, however, which we have examined, no two are marked alike. 



Habitat. — France, (Normandy, Picardy, and some provinces of the S. W. of 

 France,) Germany, Hungary, Austria, Turkey, Spain, Italy, N. Africa. Found 



*Ety. — 22*.zf*xvSp*; Greek first used by Aristotle ; according to Wurfbain, <ravros humid, or Zahajuuvfpav, an animal that 

 rests tranquilly in its retreat. Quieta in Spelunca, see Dura. & Bib., t. ix., p. 50. 



