234 bufonidjE. 



be compared to a policeman's whistle, being clear and 

 sonorous with rolling r's. 



The male embraces the female under the arms, 

 pressing the hands on the breast as in frogs, — without, 

 however, their ever meeting, as usual in the latter. 

 The embrace may last for a few days. The long egg- 

 strings are produced slowly, and twisted round weeds 

 as in the common toad. The larvse transform about 

 two months later, the young, on leaving the water, 

 measuring* 10 to 17 mm. from snout to vent. 



On the island of Lipari, Mr. Norman Douglass 

 found tadpoles abundant in the rivulets of warm 

 mineral water which run down to the sea in the 

 western part of the island, and the late A. Walter 

 observed this toad to resort to wells of brackish 

 water in the Transcaspian steppes. 



Eggs. — Resembling those of B. vulgaris, but usually 

 smaller, measurino- about one and a half millimetres 

 in diameter, and more numerous, forming longer 

 strings, in which they are disposed in files of three or 

 four ; when the strings are stretched the eggs are 

 arranged in double files. The number of eggs has 

 been estimated by Heron-Royer at 10,000 to 12,000. 

 The embryo drops out on the third or fourth day, 

 before the appearance of the external gills, which are 

 small, stump-like, and unbranched, and with the tail 

 in a rudimentary condition. 



Tadpolu (PI. II, fig. 4). — Intermediate between B. 

 vulgaris and B. calamita, but larger than either, and 

 with broader internarial space. Mouth wide, as in 

 B. vulgaris ; labial teeth variable, sometimes as in B. 

 vulgaris, sometimes more as in B. calamita ; the second 

 upper series narrowly or widely interrupted in the 

 middle; first lower series measuring one-half to three- 

 fourths the length of the second. 



Distance between the eyes about once and a half the 

 distance between the nostrils, and equal to the width 

 of the mouth. Tail three or four times as long as 

 deep, broadly rounded at one end, its upper crest more 



