so easy a Series of transitions to the caducibranchiate group, in
which all | external trace of the branchial apparatus is lost, that
the artificial nature of such a division of the order is evident,
and some Naturalists have even hesitated whether to separate,'
generically, the last of the perennibranchians from the species, Sieboldtia
gigantea, with which the description of the dental system in
the higher division of Batrachians is here commenced. As regards
the teeth, the difference between the great aquatic salamander of the
volcanic mountains of Japan and that of the Alleghanies is very
slight and merely specific ; the form, disposition and attachment of
the teeth is the same in Sieboldtia as in Menopoma; they differ slightly
m relative size, those of the Japanese newt having the advantage in
this respect, with a somewhat deeper implantation of their anchylosed
base ; and the alveolar parapet of the intermaxillary hones is higher
and is slightly incurved. -There are fourteen teeth in each intermaxillary,
seventy-two in each superior maxillary, and sixty-four teeth in
each vomer of the Sieboldtia gigantea.
83. Andrias.— The disposition, form and attachment of the teeth
in the great fossil newt or salamander, {Andrias Scheuchzeri, Tschudi),
are the same as in the menopome and Sieboldtia ; but they appear to
have been relatively smaller than in the latter genus, are less compressed,
and present more conspicuous basal'grooves.(l)
84. Triton. All the caducibranchiate Batrachians with tails, as
the newts and land salamanders, have teeth on the inferior maxillary and
vomerine bones, as well as on the intermaxillaries and superior max-
illaries. In the common newts, as Tr. palustris, cristatus, and other
allied species of the old world, the teeth are confined to the hones above
mentioned ; they are equal, subcompressed, fine, sharp-pointed cones,
(1) Cuvier being desirous of obtaining additional evidence of the truth of bis opinion of the
real nature of the pretended Anthropolite of Scheuchzer, obtained permission, while at Harlaem
to excavate the stone containing the celebrated fossil. “ Nous avions placé,” he says, “ devant
nous un dessin du squelette de la Salamandre, et ce ne fut pas sans une sorte de plisir, qu’à
mesure que le ciseau enlevait un éclat de pierre, nous voyions paraître au jour quelqu’un des os
que ce dessin avait annoncé d’avance. C’est ainsi que cette table de schiste, gravée et regravée
vingt fois depuis un siècle comme elle l’est, PI. 253, fig. 2, fut mise dans l’état où on la voit
PI. 254, fig. 2. Et d’abord nous avons trouvé autour de la rotondité, à droite et à gauche, une
double rangée de petites dents ; ce qui nous a fait voir que cette rotondité était produite plr les
mâchoires et non par la crâne.”—Ossemens Fossiles, Ed. 1837, tom. x, p. 372. M. Tschudi
arranged in a single close-set row along the upper and lower margins
of the mouth, and extending far back upon the roof of the mouth
in a single row along the outer margins of each vomer: these vomerine
teeth are extremely minute, (Pi. 62, fig. 9).
Most of the North American newts have a fourth locality for
teeth, which reminds us of a peculiarity of the dental system of some
of the highly organized Clupeoid fishes of the South American rivers,
viz: upon the undersurface of the sphenoid bone(l) : there are four
series of these sphenoid teeth in the sub-genus Pseudotriton; and
in the Salamandra glutinosa of Maclure, {Plethodon, Tschudi), they
are aggregated, ‘ en brosse,’ to the number of three hundred and upwards,
upon both the basi-sphenoid and basi-occipital bones (PL 62,
fig. 12, e) : there is a single row, set nearly transversely across the
posterior margin of each vomer c, and the marginal teeth of the mouth
of which the intermaxillary ones are shown at a and the maxillaries
at b, are arranged as usual in a single row both above and below.
85. Salamandra.—In the land salamanders, '{Salamandra, Laur.)
the teeth are proportionally larger than in the newts : there are about
sixty in each lateral series of both upper and lower jaws ; and forty
teeth, forming a sigmoid row on each side of the palate, in the Salamandra
maculata.
86. Rana.—The frogs have no teeth on the lower jaw, but in some
species the alveolar edge of this bone is finely notched or dentated, as
in the horned frogs, {Ceratophrys). The intermaxillary and maxillary
bones, support a long, close-set, single series of small,
conical, hollow teeth of which the apices only project beyond the
external alveolar ridge to which they are attached. A short transverse
row of similar but smaller teeth extends along the posterior
border of each vomer, except in the slender-armed frogs {Leptobra-
chium) and in some of the tree frogs, as the Euchnemis, in which the
roof of the mouth is edentulous. The teeth are relatively most developed
in the Ceratophrys: they are anchylosed by their basis, and outer
has added further details respecting the dental system of this interesting Batracholite, which
prove its close alliance with the Salamandroid genera cited in the text. See his Classification
her Batrachier, 4to. 1838.
(1) M. Tschudi, 1. c. p. II.
O