100 RANID.E. 



pelvis, where it is sometimes a little raised. The fore feet 

 are of moderate size and length, with four toes, of which the 

 third is slightly the longest, the second notably the shortest, 

 as is probably the case in all the true Frogs ; hinder legs very 

 long, and very muscular, extending to more than half as long- 

 again as the body ; hinder toes five in number, long, slender, 

 palmated, the fourth toe being by much the longest. Skin 

 naked, smooth. The male is smaller and more slender than 

 the female. 



The changes which the colour of the Frog undergoes both 

 in intensity and in hue, from the variation of temperature, 

 the presence or absence of light, and the influence of fear, 

 and perhaps of other causes of mental excitement, although 

 certainly much less striking and considerable, are scarcely less 

 varied than those exhibited by the chameleon. The causes 

 of these changes has not, I believe, been examined, but the 

 subject well deserves a careful and minute investigation. 



The whole of the family to Avhich this species belongs are 

 liable to great variety of colour, and even of marking ; but 

 there are certain limits beyond which these variations do not 

 extend, which although not always easily expressed in the few 

 words which are convenient for a specific diagnostic phrase, 

 are yet easily recognised by the eye, when once well and 

 sufficiently observed. 



It is generally brown, inclining more or less to yellowish 

 or reddish brown on the upper side, spotted irregularly with 

 black, brown, or brownish grey, with transverse fascia?, which 

 vary in number, of the same colour on the legs ; beneath, 

 yelloAvish white, sometimes with spots similar to those on the 

 back, but smaller and fewer. " The most constant mark,"''' as 

 Mr. Jenyns well observes, '* is an elongated patch of brown, or 

 brownish black, behind the eyes, on each side of the occiput : 

 there is also generally more or less indication of a whitish 



