428 BATRACHIA. 



^Madagascar. Most of them appear to have the power of changing their colours. The 

 following species occur in British India : — 



Synopsis of the Species. 



Tympanum not much smaller than the eye ; fingers slightly webbed. Back 



without parallel longitudinal bands P. maculatus, p. 428. 



Back with dark parallel longitudinal bands P. quadrilineatus , p. 429. 



Tympanum one-third the width of the eye ; fingers scarcely webbed ; heel 



without spur P. microtympanum, p. 430. 



Tympanum not quite one-third the width of the eye ; fingers distinctly 



webbed ; the hinder side of the thighs brown with white dots .... P. pleurostictus, p. 430. 

 Tympanum one-tliird the ^vidth of the eye ; fingers distinctly webbed ; the 



hinder side of the thighs reticulated with black P. reiiculatus, i>. 431. 



A cutaneous spur at the heel P. eques, p. 431. 



Tympanum very small ; vomerine teeth in a straight line P. afghana, p. 432. 



Some other frogs have been noticed as belonging to this genus, but they have not been sufficiently 

 characterized to distinguish them from their congeners, and it is doubtful whether they have been referred 

 to the proper genus :— 



1. Polypedates (?) may-inoratus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. xxiv. p. 188. — Schwe Gyen, Pegu. 



2. Polypedates lividus, Blyth, /. c. p. 718. — Tenasserim. 



3. Polypedates megacephalus, Hallow, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sc. Pliilad. 1860, p. 507.— Hongkong. 



4. Polypedates stellata, Kelaart, Prodr. Faun. Zeyl. i. p. 194. " Above bright green, with transverse 

 darker bands and irregularly spotted ivhite. Limbs barred brown and spotted white. Beneath pinkisli 

 white. Body oval. Total length about 2\ inches. Newera Ellia." 



Polypedates m.^culatus. The Common Indian Tree-Frog. 



Hyla maculata. Gray, Ind. Zool. 



leucomystax, Gravenh. Delic. p. 26. 



Polypedates leucomystax, Dum. £f Bibr. viii. p. 519. Cantor, Mai. Rept. p. 142. Kelaart, Prodr. 

 Faun. Zeyl. p. 193. 



riigosus, part., Dum. t^- Bibr. viii. p. 520. 



cruciger, Blyth, in Kelaart, Prodr. Faun. Zeyl. App. p. 48. 



maculatus, Gdnth. Batrach. Sal. p. 78. 



Rather slender in habit. Head broad, with the snout of moderate length, and with distinct 

 canthus rostralis ; the crown of the head and the loreal region are concave. Eye large ; the 

 tympanum is not much smaller in circumference than the eye. The vomerine teeth are in 

 two series, each commencing from the anterior angle of the choanae ; these series sometimes 

 form a perfectly straight line, sometimes they are more or less oblique, convergent behind. 

 The upper parts are perfectly smooth, and in old specimens the skin of the upper side of the 

 head is adherent to the bone ; a curved transverse osseous crest is more developed in speci- 

 mens from Ceylon than in those from the Continent ; it is always absent in young examples. 

 None of the tubercles below the vent are enlarged, and the heels are without appendage. 

 Limbs rather slender, the length of the body being equal to, or only a little more than, the 

 distance between vent and heel. Disks large, those of the fingers considerably larger than 



