BUFONIDAE l8l 



rattle. In Germany, during the months of April and May, they 

 take to the ponds, or, improvident like the common frog, to a 

 roadside ditch. The male sits upon the female and grasps her 

 below the arms, his hands 011 her breast, and in this position 

 they remain for days. The eggs are laid in two strings, twisted 

 around water - plants, and are very numerous. Heron - Eoyer 

 has calculated them at 10,000 or more in one set. The 

 embryos are hatched, like those of the Common Toad, before 

 the appearance of the external gills and of the tail. In this 

 imperfect condition they remain in the jelly of the egg -strings 

 for a few days, while their external gills sprout out like un- 

 branched little stumps, only to disappear again. In about eight 

 weeks the tadpoles, which reach a length little more than 1^ 

 inch or 40 mm., have metamorphosed and leave the water as 

 baby-toads scarcely half an inch in length. 



This species has a very wide range, namely, the whole of 

 Middle Europe excepting the British Isles, France and the 

 Iberian Peninsula ; the region between the Elbe and Ehine being 

 its western limit ; southwards it extends over all the Mediter- 

 ranean islands and the north coast of Africa, eastwards through 

 the whole of Eussia, Western and Central Asia, not entering India, 

 but spreading along the Himalayas into China. Stoliczka men- 

 tions its having been found in the Himalayas at an altitude of 

 15,000 feet, the highest record of any Amphibian, at least in 

 such latitudes. 



B. calamita. The Natterjack is practically the representative 

 of the Green Toad in Western Europe, but both species occur 

 together in Denmark, Southern Sweden, and nearly the whole 

 of Germany. Its southern limit is Gibraltar. In the British 

 Isles it occurs in South- Western Ireland, in Co. Kerry, and in 

 England and Wales, being however local, and preferring sandy 

 localities, where it is found in considerable numbers. This 

 predilection is shown by its frequency on the sandy dunes of 

 most of the islands off the German and Dutch coast, where it 

 may be seen running about in glaring sunshine. 



Besides in the coloration, it differs from B. viridis in the follow- 

 ing points. The little subarticular pads of the toe-joints are 

 paired, not single, and the hind-limbs are decidedly shorter, so 

 much so that this species cannot hop. But it runs well, like a 

 mouse, generally in jerks, stopping every few seconds, and owing 



