34 ZOOLOGY OF THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE. 



appearance of the tympanum, the paucity of palatine teeth, and the total absence 

 of an interdigital membrane on the hinder feet. These characters being either 

 merely comparative or unimportant, were not considered by Bibron as sufficient 

 to warrant a generic separation, and I have followed him in retaining the species 

 amongst the Cystignathi. It was first discovered by Messrs. Quoy and Gaimard 

 at King George's Sound, in Australia, where it was also obtained by Mr. Darwin. 

 It is a beautiful species ; the back being of a rich brown colour, with a pale 

 orange fascia extending along the sides from the eye to the thigh, becoming 

 bright orange on the flanks. Thighs and legs banded with rich deep brown and 

 bright orange. 



Genus— BORBOROCCETES. Bell. 



Lingua ovate, postice libera, rotundata; antice subacuminala. Dentes palatini in 

 fasciculis binis pliis miniisve obliquis, pone nares posteriores positi. Tympanum 

 celatum. Digiti anteriores hand palmati ; posteriores ad basin tantiim cute con- 

 nexi. Glandulae cutanea; nullce. Sacculi vocales (maris) utrinque sub lingua 

 nascent es. 



The two species on which I have founded this genus approach so nearly to 

 some species of Cystignalhus, that it is not without hesitation that I determine on 

 considering them as typical of a new generic form. The principal characters on 

 which I have founded the distinction are the position of the palatine teeth, the 

 form of the tongue, the concealment of the tympanum, the absence of glands and 

 pores on the skin, and the connexion of the base of the hinder toes by a rudi- 

 mentary palmar membrane. It is true that some of the species of Cystignathus, 

 as that genus is at present constituted, agree with the present form in some or 

 other of these particulars ; but upon the whole they are sufficiently distinct ; and 

 in fact the genus Cystignathus, as left by M. Bibron, appears to me to stand in 

 need of revision and dismemberment. The species constituting the genus now 

 proposed, are however both new. The genus Borboroccetes will probably stand, in 

 its natural affinities, between Cystignathus and Cycloramphus, from the latter of 

 which it differs in the situation of the palatine teeth, in the degree to which the 

 hinder feet are webbed, and the comparative length of the hinder legs. The 

 two latter characters are of importance as indicating a difference of habit ; and 

 we find that Cycloramphus has proportionally short hinder limbs, with the toes 



