VI 



RANINAE 259 



B. graeca inhabits Italy and the Balkan peninsula from Eosina 

 to Morea, together with R. agilis, from which it is very difficult 

 to distinguish except that it is a little smaller, remaining below 

 2^ inches, and is generally more uniformly pale grey brown to 

 yellowish and pinkish brown above, with scarcely any, or only a 

 few, small dark specks on the back and limbs. The temporal 

 patch is likewise paler than in tlie other species. The flanks are 

 spotless, their colour gradually passing into the light buff of tlie 

 under parts, which are more or less marbled with grey. The iris 

 is golden, speckled with dark brown. 



Pi. latastei of Lombardy and Northern Italy down to Florence 

 is the last of these closely allied frogs. Its affinities lie with 

 11. Iberica and R. agilis. The latter and R. latastei, although 

 living side by side in the same locality, for instance near Turin, 

 are said not to interbreed. The voice is a rapidly uttered " keck- 

 keck-keck ;" the length remains below 2^ inches. The ground 

 colour is greyish or reddish lirown with a dark brown A-sliaped 

 mark between the shoulders, and a few red, orange, or blackish spots 

 on the back. The flanks are without definite dark spots. The 

 under parts are whitish, with a strong pink tinge, especially along 

 the middle of the throat and on the chest, the paler portions 

 being mottled with pale grey brown. 



Perhaps the least unsatisfactory way of distinguishing between 

 R. agilis, R. graeca, and R. latastei {R. iberica need not be con- 

 founded with them on account of its distribution) is the size of 

 the tympanum, and its distance from the eye. The tympanum is 

 smallest in R. graeccc, its diameter being about half that of the 

 eye and from f to the whole of its width distant from the eye. 

 In R. latastei the tympanum is a little larger, and about ^ to |- 

 its own width distant from the eye. R. agilis has the largest 

 tympanum, measuring about f of the diameter of the eye, and 

 the distance between the two organs amounts to only ^ of the 

 size of the tympanum. 



Brown land-frogs of the R. temporaria group are found in most 

 countries of nearly the whole Periarctic and Oriental regions, and 

 by the time their races and varieties have been studied as 

 minutely as those of Europe are now being scrutinised, the 

 number of species will indeed be great. 



R. silvatica is the chief representative in North America. It 

 closely resembles R. agilis, but is smaller, only 2 inches in length, 



