134 
Mil. W. K. PARKER ON THE STRUCTURE AND 
with each other, they differ from the more typical Anura of the European sub-division 
of the Palsearctic region. They differ greatly from the normal Bufo, as well as from 
the normal Rcmci, and they are isomorphic, more or less, with types in the “ Notogsea,” 
to which they can claim only the remotest Batrachian relationship. 
The main characters by which Alytes differ from the common typical Frog are :— 
1. The flattened, very feeble skull, as a whole. 
2. The open state of the fontanelles, through the deficient growth of the roof-bones. 
3. The fusion of the normal pair of secondary fontanelles into one. 
4. The presence of a clear superorbital edge to the skull, and the articulation with 
it of a large, distinct superorbital cartilage. 
5. The nasal roof imperfect, and the “ rostrum ” well developed. 
6. No septo-maxillaries. 
7. Occipito-otic bones continuous. 
8. Quadrate region partly ossified. 
9. Supra-stapedial confluent. 
10. An endosteal “ articulare.” 
11. Cerato-hyal wide, and basal “ notch ” very large. 
12. A V-shaped ectosteal basi-branchial, and periosteal cartilages on thyro-hyals. 
Fifth Family. Hyperoliida:. 
Genus Hyperolius. 
32. Hyperolius ( Uperoleia ) marmorcitus .—Adult female ; 1^ inch long. Paramatta, 
Australia. 
This type represents the “ UperoliicPe ” of Gunther (“Batr. Sal.,” p. 39), but Pro¬ 
fessor Mivart (P. Z. S., 1869, p. 291) melts this lesser group into the “Alytidse;” 
the correspondence in certain characters, however, gives them no real title of near 
relationship. This more extended group of “ Alytidse” must be taken as a convenient 
temporary zoological bundle ; a very small spark will devour the “ tow ” that binds 
these alien types together. 
This skull (Plate 24, figs. 6,7) is evenly semi-elliptical in outline; its breadth is 
a little greater than its length, and the quadrate condyle (q.c.) is only opposite the 
foramen ovale (V.). 
This skull is at once seen to be both generalised and arrested; yet it belongs to a 
minority among its Australian congeners, in having its fontanelle covered. Altogether 
it is more like the skull of a young Common, than of an old Obstetric, Frog. 
It is, indeed, more like the typical skull than that of the “ Cystignathidse ” of 
Australia— Lymnodynastes, Camariolius (Plates 18 and 19)—whose skulls approach 
those of the Tree-frogs of the same region. The occipital-condyles are almost hemi¬ 
spherical ; they are posterior, and are separated by a straight-edged interspace larger 
