NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 499 



narrow-pointed behind; eye resting on the fourth and fifth supralabial ; scales 

 quadrangular; those of the back slightly carinate ; prajanal scute bifid; tail 

 rather short, with bifid scutes. 



Proterodon tessellatus nob. 



Spec. char. Twenty-one rows of scales ; three or four rows on each side 

 smooth: the others, with a slight carina, extending half-way along the middle ; 

 olive-colored above; throat yellow, black spotted; abdomen orange, tesselated 

 with black ; length 3 feet. 



Description. The head is rather long, flattened behind, pupil round, the 

 supraciliary not projecting over the eye ; the frenal is quite small ; of the two 

 postoculars the superior is the larger; the temporal plate immediately behind 

 them is remarkable for its form; it is quite narrow and somewhat lanceolate 

 in shape ; of the two posterior temporals the upper is much longer than the 

 inferior; there are eight supralabials, though this is somewhat doubtful from 

 the diseased condition of the three anterior ones, the seventh being the 

 largest; the scales posterior to the occipitals (about a dozen rows) are quite 

 smooth; the neck is narrower than the head; the body moderately stout; 

 the tail rounded above and upon the sides, flattened beneath, tapering to a 

 point. Ab. scut. 211; subcaud. 73; a double prasanal plate. 



Akphiesma tisrinuh D. & B., Erp. Gen. t. vii. p. 732. 



Tropidonotus tigrinus Schlegel, Fauna Japonica, p. 86. Two specimens caught 

 at. Niphon, Japan, May, 1855, by Mr. Stimpson. Ab. scut. 162 ; 1 bifid praeanal ; 

 subcaud. 175. 



Gen. remarks. Thi3 is evidently the Tropidonotus tigrinus of Prof. 

 Schlegel, whose remarks in regard to the differences between the one under 

 consideration and the Tropidonotus natrix of European authors, are perfectly 

 correct. Trop. tigrinus has a great resemblance to the Trop. h y d r u s of 

 Fitzinger, of which we have eight specimens in the Bonap. Coll., the markings 

 and the number of rows of scales are the same in both ; but the shape of the 

 head is very different. That of tigrinus is broad, and the snout is rounded, 

 but in hydrus it is more acute. The two serpents in fact belong to different 

 genera. 



BATRACHIANS. 



Ranid.b. 



Rana rugosa Schlegel. Fauna Japonica, p. 160, tab. 3, fig. 3 and 4, D. &B., 

 Erpet. Generale, torn. viii. p. 368. 



Four specimens of small size, presenting the conical pustulations upon the 

 longitudinal elevations upon the back described by Dumeril & Bibron, three 

 other specimens from Ousinia, and two from Simoda, of the size of Rana 

 h a 1 e c i n a ,' with vocal vesicles very distinct. The specimens from Ousima, 

 and two larger ones from Simoda, are perfectly white beneath. Taken in 

 in the Paddy fields at the island of Ousima, May, 1855, W. S. Cream 

 colored and greenish mottled. The large specimens from Simoda, Island 

 of Niphon, were found in the Paddy fields back of the town, May, 1855. 

 This species has bladders, one on each side of the neck behind the jaws, which 

 swell in globes one-half an inch in diameter ; and when the croaking noise is 

 made, they as rapidly fall flat against the neck. Above dark greyish, with 

 darker brown spots on the hinder legs; sides yellowish brown ; belly white ; 

 fore legs inclining to flesh color; back sometimes streaked with black, as in 

 our Pickerel frog. Other specimens much smaller, marked 13 in the catalogue, 

 were found along the shores v of mountain streams, at Simoda, Japan, May. 

 1855. Above very dark brown, irregularly and distantly punctate with black. 

 Below pale greyish, mottled with white. Another specimen of rugosa bv 

 Dr. Morrow from Simoda. 



I860.] 



