BATRACHIA. 83 



male in the expulsion of the eggs, which are larg;e, and fastens 

 them on his thighs, in bundles, by means of some glutinous 

 threads. He carries them about with him until the eyes of the 

 tadpoles they contain can be distinguished through their enve- 

 lope, and, in fact, until the time when they are about to be hatch- 

 ed; he then seeks some stagnant water, in which he deposits 

 them. The eggs immediately split, and the tadpoles swim out. 

 It is very small, and is carnivorous. Very common in stony 

 places near Paris.(l) 



Sicily produces a toad three or four times larger than those 



of France, that is brown, with flat and irregular tubercles. It 



is generally found in the tuft of a palm. We will call it Bufo 



palmar um. 



The Toads, foreign to Europe, have hitherto been badly deter- 



minedj several are remarkable for their size. 



Rana marina, Gm. ; Le Crapaud agua; Daud. XXVII; Spix, 

 XV. Brown, varied with dark brovvnj unequal and slightly sa- 

 lient tuberclesj the triangular parotids more than an inch wide 

 in individuals, which are from ten to twelve inches long, exclu- 

 sive of the feet. Found in the marshy districts of South Ame- 

 rica.(2) 

 Several subgenera have been lately separated from that of the 



Toads; thus the 



BoMBiNATOR, Merr. 

 Only differs from the others in the tympanum being concealed 

 under the skin; such in France is the 



Rana bombina, Gm.; Crapaud a ventre jaiine; Roes. XXII; 

 Daud. XXVI. The smallest and most aquatic of all the Toads 

 of that country. It is greyish or brown above; a black-blue 

 with orange spots beneath; the hind feet completely palmate 

 and almost as long as those of Frogs, so that it leaps nearly as 

 well. It lives in marshes and couples in June; the eggs are 

 produced in little balls, and are larger than those of the preceding 

 species. The(3) 



(1) It is impossible to say why Merrem placed the obstetricus among his Bombi- 

 natores its tympanum is very visible. 



(2) Add, Bufo macuUventris, Spix, XV, should it prove to differ from the agua,- 

 B. iciericus. Id. XVI, 1; B. lazarus, Id. xvii, 1; B. stellatus. Id. XVIII, 1; B. 

 scaber, Daud., XXXIV, which is not the same as the B. scaber of Spix, X, 1; B 

 bengalensis, Id.xxxv, 1; B. musicus, Id. XXXIII, 2; B. cindus, Vr. Max. fasc. 

 3 : the B. agua, Id. fasc . 7, does not appear to be the same as that of Spix. 



[Add jB. americanus,L. C. m. Ed.] 



(3) Add Bufo ventricoms, Daud., XXX, 2, the turgidity of which is exaggerated. 



