14 ■ B A TRACE I A. * 



We are inclined to think that Triton ensatus, from California, de- 

 scribed in Eschscholtz's " Zoologischer Atlas," V, 1833, page 6, and 

 figured on Plate xxii of the same work, will constitute a third species 

 of this genus. r 



XiPHONURA TENEBROSA, Grd. 



"' ' • (Plate I, figs. 9-17.) 



Char. spec. — Gapite valde amplo et depresso. Cauda valde compressa 

 et corporis lo7igiiudinem adequante. Digitis palmarum plantarumque 

 elongatis, complanatk. Gute densa et inconspicue gramdata. Supra 

 ruhro'fasca, maculis nigro-fuscis interspersis ; infra unicolori. 



Spec. Char. — Head very broad and flat. Tail very much compressed, 

 equal to the body in length. Fingers and toes rather long and 

 flattened. Skin densely and inconspicuously granular. Color, dark 

 reddish-brown above, spotted with deeper brown ; beneath, unicolor. 



Syn. — Amllystoma tenehrosum, B. «&; Gr. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad. VI, 1852, 174. 



Bescr. — The head forms about the sixth of the entire length ; it is 

 proportionally large, and well detached from the body ; depressed and 

 subconcave superiorly ; viewed from above, its shape is ovoidal, nar- 

 rowest forwards. The snout is rounded; the nostrils are situated 

 high up on the sides, a little more distant from the anterior rim of the 

 orbit than the extremity of the snout. The eyes are of medium size ; 

 their anterior margin is one and a half of their diameter distant from 

 the extremity of the snout. The mouth is broadly cleft. The max- 

 illary teeth are proportionally small, acute, and conical; disposed 

 upon one row ; somewhat more conspicuous on the lower than on the 

 upper jaw. The vomero-palatine teeth constitute a gently undulating 

 and transverse band, extending from the exterior edge of the inner 

 nostrils to the middle line of the vomer, where the bands from either 

 side meet, without being, however, in immediate contiguity. The 

 sphenoid is entirely deprived of teeth. The inner nostrils themselves 

 are broadly open and far apart. The tongue is very large, broad, 

 attached by most of its under surface ; its lateral margins alone being 

 free and slightly also anteriorly. 



The neck is almost continuous with the body ; whilst the head is 

 rather detached from it, owing to the development of the temporal 

 region. A double gular fold may be observed. The body itself is 



