RANA GRACILIS. 409 



The usual length of this species is 3 inches, the hind limb measuring 5 inches. It is one 

 of the most widely spread species, being found in every part of Europe, in North Africa, 

 through Central Asia, to China and Japan. We have specimens from Ningpo and from the 

 Chinese island of Chusan. 



Rana silvatica. 



Rana temporaria, Schleg. Faun. Japon. Rept. p. 109. pi. 3. fig. 2. 



silvatica, Leconte, Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. New York, i. p. 282. 



temporaria, var. japonica, Giinth. Batrach. Sal. p. 17. 



Snout of moderate length, pointed, with the canthus rostralis very obtuse ; tympanum 

 somewhat indistinct, rather smaller than the eye. Vomerine teeth in two slightly oblique 

 series between the choani3e. Skin smooth ; a glandular fold on each side of the back, 

 running from the eye to the loin. Hind limbs rather slender, the distance from the vent to 

 the heel being equal to the length of the body. Tips of the fingers and toes very slightly 

 swollen, the latter being only half-webbed. The fifth toe without cutaneous fringe, and the 

 metatarsus without fold. One metatarsal tubercle. The third and fifth toes equal in length, 

 but much shorter than the fourth. 



Brownish or brownish olive ; a brown streak runs along the canthus rostralis, and an 

 oblique bro^vn band descends from the eye over the tympanum ; sometimes a brown indistinct 

 band between the eyes. 



This species occurs in Japan, and in the neighbourhood of Ningpo, whence we have 

 received a single example. It is most closely allied to our Bana temporaria, but the latter 

 appears constantly to differ in having shorter hind limbs, the length of the body being con- 

 siderably more than the distance of the vent from the keel. The North American Bana 

 silvatica is still more closely allied to the Asiatic form, scarcely differing from it in having a 

 somewhat shorter snout. 



Rana gracilis. 



Rana gracilis, Wiegm. Nov. Act. Acad. Leopold. -Carol. 1835, xvii. p. 257. Peters, Monatsber. 



Berl. Acad. 1863, p. 78. 

 vittigera, Giinth. Batrach. Sal. p. 9 (not Wiegm.). 



Snout of moderate length, scarcely pointed, without canthus rostralis ; tympanum of mode- 

 rate size, smaller than the eye; apophyses of the lower jaw hardly conspicuous. The 

 vomerine teeth form two oblique series, commencing from the inner anterior angle of the 

 choanee and converging behind. Skin on the back with numerous short longitudinal folds. 

 Hind limbs rather thick and short, the distance between vent and metatarsal tubercle being 

 equal to, or rather more than, that of the body. Tips of the fingers and toes very slightly 

 swollen ; the fourth toe is one-third longer than the fifth ; toes only half-webbed ; a slight cuta- 

 neous fringe along the outer edge of the fifth toe ; metatarsus with two tubercles and without 

 outer fold. The vocal sac is rather small, internal, and provided with two lateral openings. 



.3g 



