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1891.] Zoology. IOI7 
derm. These cavities have at early stages a nerve supply in which both 
motor and sensory roots occur; one nerve, called the ‘‘thalamicus,’’ 
being apparently a new discovery, and is probably to be regarded as 
the dorsal root of the oculomotorius, 
The Reproduction of the Conger.—Mr. T. J. Cunningham 
thinks® that the conger eel reproduces but once in a lifetime, and then 
dies. He gives many facts, new and collected, to support this view, 
although he has never obtained ripe eggs. The female increases in 
size towards the period of maturity, and this growth, sometimes so 
excessive as to burst the body open, is the result of the enlargement of 
the ovaries, During some months before maturity both male and 
female congers refuse all food, and all reserves stored up in the body 
are transferred to the reproductive organs. This process goes so far 
that the teeth are lost, while the bones of the skull lose all osseous 
characters and cut like cheese. From various facts Cunningham rea- 
sons that the eggs of the conger are pelagic and transparent, and he 
attempts to identify certain unknown eggs from Naples with several 
Mureenoid fishes 
A New Species of Frog from New Jersey.—It is well known 
that the coastal plain of New Jersey is both zoologically and botani- 
cally very different from the Piedmont regions, and that its species 
have a greater or less distribution in the corresponding region of the 
states to the southwest of it. Among fishes, the few species of the 
Percid genera Acantharchus and Enneacanthus range through the 
entire coastal region, with the Ztheostoma barrattii. The Mesogonistius 
chetodon covers so far, only New Jersey and the Chesapeake peninsula, 
while the Lepomis phenax has not yet been found south of New Jersey. 
Among Batrachia a marked instance of this distribution is furnished 
by the Ay/a andersonii, which has been found at two localities in New 
Jersey and one in South Carolina, I have now to add to this list a 
species of Rana found in Southern New Jersey, which has hitherto 
escaped detection. It is a most distinct one, and about the size of the 
wood frog (Rana silvatica). 
RANA VIRGATIPES, sp. nov.—Vomerine tooth patches between the 
choane, and extending posteriorly to their posterior border. Hind 
legs short, the heel extending from the middle of the tympanum in 
some to near the eye in other specimens. Webs rather short, two 
phalanges of the fourth toe free. Prahallux small, but quite promi- 
5 Jour. Marine Biol. Assn. United Kingdom, II., p. 16, r89t. 



