508 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV . 



Mouth. — No bard beak, teeth nor papillae. 



Both upper and lower lips simple. 



Colour (in life). — Body above greenish-brown, the sides lighter, mottled 

 with white passing into greyish white below. Tail greenish-brown with 

 darker markings. Upper crest edged with white, interrupted more or 

 less by the dark markings. The white edge is more conspicuous on the 

 lower crest and is continuous for the first two-thirds of its length. 



Length of body 10 mm., length of tail 17 mm., breadth of body 

 7 mm., depth of tail 5 mm., toes slightly webbed. It is difficult to ?ay 

 on what the tadpoles of the Engystomatidse feed, unprovided as they are 

 with teeth. Their mouths are continually expanding and contracting, 

 and I conclude that they must take in infusoria. They do not appear 

 to search for these on water weed, but in captivity they float about in 

 the jar in an aimless sort of way. The transparent tadpoles of the 

 oenus Microhyla are very delicate and are most difficult to rear. Those 

 of Callula obscura and Cacopus systoma are not so delicate. They can 

 be at once recognised by the spiraculum opening through a more or 

 less transparent sheath just in front of the anal opening. Captain Flower 

 has already pointed out that " the remarkable feature of the tadpoles" 

 of Microhyla ornata is " that the hind feet are for a time completely 

 webbed, the web is very fine and colourless ; when the young frogs 

 leave the water this web disappears." This is true also of the tadpoles of 

 Microhyla rubra except that the web does not almost entirely disappear 

 as in M. ornata, but persists for about a third of the length of the toes. 



Series : Arcifera. 



Family : Bufontd^E. 



28. Bufo beddomei. — This little toad has been recorded from the 

 Travancore hills by Col. Beddome. I have not come across it. 



29. Bufo melanostictus. — This is a very common toad both on the 

 hills and in the low country. Small specimens are very fond of taking up 

 their abode underneath the edges of the matting in rooms on the ground 

 floor whence they come out at dusk. The breeding season begins as 

 soon as the first showers set in in May and lasts through June. The 

 embrace is axillary. I have nothing to add to Capt. Flower's descrip- 

 tion of the tadpoles. 



30. Bufo parietalis. — This fine toad«is confined to the hills where it 

 may be met with up to 3,000 feet. 



