VI 



DISCOdLOSSIDAK 



155 



iirst two fingers. Totiil length from \}y to 2 inches, the males 

 lieintf iyeneiallv smaller tlian the females. Tliis " Fire-bellied 

 toad," the " Unke ' of the (lermans, is essentialh' a native of 

 lakes, ponds, and other standing waters of the plains. 



It ranges through the whole of Xorth Germany, Bohemia, 

 and Hungary into Kussia, eastwards as far as the Volga. The 

 latter river, the Danube, and the AVeser form, roughly s])eaking, 

 its boundaries; northwards it extends into Denmark and itie 

 southern extremity of Sweden. 



i~^. 



y^vji'' 



■.^^■^ 



.ffiSHutlo-nr 



Fig. 31. — Bombinatur iijuenn. xl. Fire-bellied Toad. Two of them in 



"warning" attitude. 



B. jmchj/jms. — The under ]iarts are yellow instead of red. The 

 male is devoid of vocal sacs, but has nuptial excrescences on 

 the under surface of most of the toes, in addition to those 

 on the fore-arm and fingers. The " Yellow-bellied Toad" is the 

 representative of the red-bellied species in Southern and AVestern 

 Europe, preferring, altliough not exclusively, the hilly and 

 mountainous districts. It ranges from France and Belgium 

 through Soutli-AVestern ( Germany, continental Italy, and the whole 

 <.f Austria and 'I'urkey in F^urope. AVhere Ijoth species meet, for 

 instance in the hilly districts between the Weser and the Bhine, 

 in 'i'huringia and in Austria, the predilection of the yellow-l)ellied 



