DEVELOPMENT OF THE SKULL IN THE BATRACHIA. 
145 
Here the whole structures is very Ranine, hut unusually narrow from side to side, 
yet the form of the palatines and pterygoids (pa., pg.) and the amount of unossified 
cartilage is quite normal; as also is the pedicle (pd.), but the quadrate ( q.) is partly 
ossified by the quadrato-jugal (<[■]■)■ 
The Eustachian openings ( eu .) are quite as large as the inner nostrils ; they are oval, 
and are turned outwards and forwards. 
The annulus (a.ty) is large and complete, and the stapes and columella (figs. 1 and 2, 
st., e.st.) are like those of P. maculatus; the stylo-hyal (st.h.) is confluent above. The 
mandible and liyo-branchial apparatus (figs. 3, 4) are normal, but the articulare (ar.) is 
fastening upon the ossifying cartilage to make a more solid lower jaw than that of 
most species; also the hypo-hyal (h.hy.) has a free lobe in front, as in the “ norma,” 
which is not present in P. maculatus. 
That species approaches Rhacophorus maximus; this comes very near Hylarana 
temporalis (Plate 29, figs. 1-5). 
The investing bones only differ from the type in being fitted to a skull with a wider 
cavity and narrower cheeks. 
As regards conformity to the Batrachian type, this kind is one of the highest:— 
1. The whole cranio-facial structure is longer, and with a broader skull-cavity. 
2. The occipito-auditory bones are all confluent, right and left. 
3. The columella has an imperfect supra-stapedial. 
4. The cartilage both above and below the mandibular joint is partly ossified. 
5. There are no septo-maxillaries. 
On the whole, this is perhaps the least modified from the typical Ranine skull of any 
of the “ Platydactyla.” 
36. Polypedates maculatus. —Adult male; 2 inches 1 line long. India. 
There are two noticeable varieties of the Oriental Polypedatidse, namely, those 
with short and flat, and those with long and narrow skulls; this (Plate 27, figs. 1-4) 
belongs to the first variety, which culminates in Rhacophorus maximus (Plate 26, 
figs. 5-9). The outline is evenly semi-elliptical; the length is to the breadth as 8 to 9, 
and the condyles of the quadrate come short of those of the occiput by one-thirtieth of 
the whole length of the skull. 
The term Hylarana given to one of the genera in this Family perfectly expresses 
the relationship of this group, whose members are almost exactly intermediate between 
the species of Rana and the species of Hyla. 
In this skull the antero-posterior extent of the nasal and orbital regions is equal, 
but that of auditory, only one-half; this latter region, however, is of great transverse 
extent. 
The chondrocranium, as a whole, has had a fair half of its bulk converted into bone, 
and the skull in all respects has a medium strength ; it is much depressed, and the 
orbital region is at least one-third wider than in most of the species of Rana, 
mdccclxxxi. u 
