640 Notice of a fossil Batrackian. [July, 



transverse range of palatial teeth, while the toads (Bnfo, Laur.) have 

 no teeth whatever (Regne animal : Batrachians) . Mr. Blainville in 

 his masterly 'Analyse d'un systeme general d'erpetologie and d'amphi- 

 biologie (Nouv. Annales du mus. d'hist. nat. t. IVe. p. 279) offers 

 as a diagnostic of his second genus ' Rainette,' Hyla. the tree-frog, 

 its having palatial and maxillar teeth : in his third genus, * Grenouille,' 

 Rana, some species partake in this formation, while others are void of 

 teeth in the lower jaw. 



Notwithstanding the very minute inquiry instituted by Mr. Prinsep, 

 no teeth are found immediately situated in the lower jaw and it is 

 impossible to decide, whether the teeth imbedded in the matrix along 

 the inner margin of the left lower jaw are palatial or belonging to 

 either of the two jaws. This however is of less consequence, for if 

 it be at all allowed to use the teeth as guides, the fossil representative 

 can but be approximated to either the Hylce or Ranee. A comparison 

 in the mode of life of either might perhaps carry a step farther : the 

 recent tree frogs, confined to trees, feed exclusively upon insects, while 

 the frogs properly so called, in their mixed aquatic and terrestrial 

 hunts, prey not only upon insects, but also upon other animal matters. 

 Considering the fossil teeth, it appears as nature intended these sharp 

 hooks to fix objects different from the slender bodies of insects. 



By comparing the fossil the length of which is 7j inches, to a skull 

 of the common green frog, (Rana esculenta, Linn.) it appears, that at 

 least one fourth is missing or, that the original length of the skull 

 must have been about 10 inches. Following up this comparison, we 

 find the skull of the common frog is to the total length of the body 

 as one to four, which proportion, applied to the fossil representative, 

 gives this, from the muzzle to the extremity of the body, the gigantic 

 length of forty inches, a proportion between fossil and recent species, 

 which however is met with in the .neighbouring family, the salaman- 

 ders, of which the recerJ; members are of small size compared to the 

 skeletons, one of which, (the renowned ' Homo diluvii testis' of Scheu- 

 chzer,) discovered in the schist of Oeningen, measured three feet in 

 length. 



Explanation of the sketches, PL XXXI. (about %th linear dimensions.) 

 A. The upper surface. 



1. The parietal bones, about § of an inch in diameter, strongly 

 marked with the rays of ossification, united by a very fine suture to 



2. The frontal, formed somewhat similarly to the same of Rana 

 loans, L. (Cuv. Ossem, foss. loc, cit.) 





