716 AMPHIBIA — MENOPOMID^, 



cartilaginous; pelvic and pectoral limbs well developed; anterior digits four; fourth 

 finger with three phalanges. 



'Branchial apertures persistent. Mknopoma. 



'Branchial apertures closed in adult ; extralimital Cktptobranchus. 



Genus MENOPOMA. Harlan. 



Palatine teeth in a parabolic curve between the inner nares, almost parallel to those 

 of the maxillary ; tongue transversely oval ; head depressed ; eyes small ; paxotids none ; 

 branchial apertures upon the side of the neck persistent ; skin naked ; limbs short and 

 thick ; toes four in front and five behind, the latter membranous ; tail compressed,, 

 shorter than the body. 



*Menopoma alleghaniensis Harlan. 



Hell-Bender or Mud-Devil. 



Protonopsis horrida, Barton, Barnes, Copk, 



Abranchus alleglianiensia, Haklan. 



Crypiohranchus salamandroides, Letickart. 



Murycea macronata, Rapinesque. 



Molge gigantea, in part, MeKREM. 



t Menopoma fusca, Holbrook. 



Salamandria horrida, et gigantea, or maxima. Barton. 



Salamandra alleghanensis, Michattx. 



Menopoma alleghanienais, Copb. 



Body somewhat elongated, thick and strong; color slate with dark spots; toes five ; 

 fingers four ; two outer toes with large membranous fringes; a broad expansion of the 

 skin on the outer side of each limb ; body with a cutaneous longitudinal fold on each 

 side; tail long, very much compressed laterally, presenting a, blade form appearance; 

 head very broad and etrongly depressed ; muzzle rounded ; nostrils small, well defined ; 

 inner nares large ; mouth a parabolic curve ; tongue large, fleshy, broad, filling the 

 whole lower jaw, and free anteriorly. Length, 2 feet. 



Habitat, Ohio and Alleghany Rivers, and North Carolina, " all tributaries of the Mis- 

 sissippi." Not of the Great Lakes. 



The Hell bender is said to be very voracious, and feeds upon worms, 

 crayfish, fishes, and aquatic reptiles. They also shed a membrane 

 probably corresponding to the external layer of the skin. Grote ob- 

 served them with this rolled up in the mouth as if in the act of swallow- 

 ing it, and he believed that he perceived in another case the animal 

 doing the swallowing. 



A similar shedding of the epidermis having been observed in 

 Spelerpes porphyriticus, Dactylethra, and Cydorhamphus, it becomes probable 

 that the remaining forms of this order also undergo a periodical moult- 



*For Myology see Mivart's article, Proo. Zool. Soc, London, 1869. 



t Cope makes Menapomafuscum distinct with headwaters of the Tennessee as its habitat. 



