NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 16i> 



HERPETOLOGIC AL NOTICES. 

 BY CHARLES GIRARD, M. D. 



I. Bufo lamentor. Upper surface of head nearly plane; skin thick, not ad- 

 hering to the skull. Snout prominent. Parotids small, elongated. Tympa- 

 num small and subcircular. Tongue lanceolated, very free posteriorly where 

 broadest. Upper jaw slightly emarginated. Limbs well developed, of stout 

 appearance. First finger nearly as long as the third. Palm of hands tubercu- 

 lar. Two carpal disks. A membranous fold along the inner edge of the tarsus. 

 Toes webbed to near their tips. Two moderately developed metatarsal tuber- 

 cles. Sole of feet tubercular. Skin above glandulous ; beneath warty. Color 

 greenish brown, maculated with black above and beneath. 



The head is broad and depressed ; its length entering three times in that of 

 the body, hence constituting the fourth of the entire length. Its upper surface 

 is even, that is to say it exhibits neither crests nor grooves ; the skin not 

 adhering to the skull. The snout is rather prominent. The interocular space 

 is wider than the eyelid. The nostrils are equidistant between the anterior 

 rim of the orbit and the notch of the upper jaw. The tympanum is small and 

 subcircular; its horizontal diameter being half that of the eye. The parotid 

 glands are small, elongated, subovate ; they are perforated by very small and 

 distant pores, whilst their surface is either smooth or minutely granular. 



The snout is large and the upper jaw but slightly emarginated; the tongue 

 being elongated, subelliptical, and free upon the half or even two-thirds of its 

 length. The inner nostrils are quite large and transversely elongated. The 

 openings of the eustachian tubes are nearly equal in size to the inner nostrils. 



The limbs are stout and very much developed ; the anterior ones, when 

 stretched backwards, extend beyond the groins, and the posterior ones when 

 extended forwards project the extremity of three toes beyond the snout. Both 

 fingers and toes, are depressed, whilst the tubercles under the articulations of 

 the phalanges are rather conspicuous ; the palm of the hands and the sole of the 

 feet being coarsely granular. There are two carpal disks ; the middle one is 

 very large, whilst that at the base of the inner finger is but slightly larger than 

 the subarticular knobs, in the young, proportionally much larger in the adult. 

 The metatarsal tubercles are subconical ; the innermost being somewhat larger 

 than the others. The toes are palmated to near their tips, but the interdigital 

 membrane is deeply and broadly emarginated. 



Large glandular warts are spread irregularly over the head, body and limbs, 

 more conspicuously over the back, and especially over the thighs. The 

 intervening space exhibits miliary granules hardly perceptible to the unarmed 

 eye. The inferior surface is wrinkled in various ways, spread over with granu- 

 lar warts and minute granules. 



The ground color is greenish brown, somewhat lighter or whitish beneath, 

 maculated with black all over the head, body and limbs, above as well as be- 

 low. On the upper surface, the black patches generally surround the glandu- 

 lar warts, whilst on the sides they assume a meandering aspect. An exiguous 

 dorsal light streak or filet is generally observed from the snout to the coccyx, 

 although sometimes obliterated in whole or in part. 



Specimens of this species were collected about Fort Bridger, Utah Territory, 

 by Mr. Drexler, according to whom they are very common. 



II. Engystoma texense. Head constituting the third of the total length. 

 Snout forming an acute triangle rounded at the summit. Gape of the mouth 

 horizontal, its cleft extending to a perpendicular line drawn posteriorly to the 

 pupil. Limbs slender; three carpal callosities, and one metatarsal tubercle. 

 Palm of hands and sole of feet smooth. Skin smooth also. Color above light 

 olivaceous brown, with a few black dots posteriorly; beneath uniform whitish. 



1859.] 



