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JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [Vol. IX. 



backward. The gills have the shape of ostrich feathers, and 

 as they are red like blood, the embryo, after being artificially 

 freed from the egg, looks really pretty. Its colour is black, 

 but the yellow yolk adheres to the belly. This shows that 

 the Epicrium whilst in the egg passes through the same 

 stages which the salamander passes through in the water. 

 In the salamander, the reason for gills is clear : they serve the 

 young animal to breathe in the water like fish ; in Epicrium, 

 the gills are as well formed as in the salamander, but as 

 they are not required to act as breathing organs under water, 

 their existence is not so easily understood ; yet they are 

 perhaps of some importance as organs of breathing of the 

 embryo in the egg. The embryo remains in the egg for a 

 very long time, until it reaches the size of about six to seven 

 centimetres ; it also moves rapidly if at that time it is arti- 

 ficially freed and put into water. The next thing we observed 

 was the young Epicrium living in water with two gill-holes, 

 but without gills ; the size of the youngest was only a 

 little larger than the full-grown embryos. It is therefore 

 certain that the embryos break the shell of the egg, strip 

 off their gills when wandering through the soil to the water, 

 and live for some time in water with simple gill-holes 

 and lungs, which had developed already in the embryonic 

 stage. A young Epicrium, or so-called larva, when living 

 in water comes from time to time to the surface to inhale 

 air. By and by the gill-holes close, the young animal appears 

 on land, and no more leaves it ; when put back into the 

 water it is soon drowned. 



It now would no longer be correct to assign to the Epi- 

 crium the lowest position in the natural system amongst 

 Amphibians. The Epicrium has generally the same 

 development as the salamander, and has therefore its 

 position quite near the latter. The salamander belongs to 

 the Amphibians with a tail, in contrast with the frog, which 

 is a tailless Amphibian. The Epicrium was considered to be 

 without a tail ; in the full-grown specimen, however, a trace 



