bufo. 239 



ground-colour upon the limbs. Body often dotted all 

 over with black. The large warts on the back often 

 red or reddish, margined with black ; parotoids also 

 often reddish, sometimes with a dark border all round ; 

 the warts at the angle of the mouth always red. 

 Nearly always a narrow, filiform yellow vertebral 

 line extends along the middle of the back from 

 the snout or the vertex to the vent ; it is some- 

 times interrupted, rarely entirely absent ; in addition 

 to this line there is sometimes a broader yellowish 

 vertebral streak. A light wavy lateral stripe is often 

 present, especially in females. Lower surfaces dirty 

 white, more or less abundantly spotted with blackish. 

 Tips of fingers and toes brown or blackish. Iris 

 greenish-yellow, veined or vermiculated with black 



Specimens from the Spanish peninsula and the 

 South of France are often more handsomely marbled 

 than is the case in more northern representatives, and 

 as the yellow vertebral line is not infrequently absent* 

 such examples have been referred by some authors to 

 Bufo viridis. 



Males distinguished by stronger fore limbs, some- 

 what longer hind limbs, and a large subgular vocal 

 sac, which, when swollen, equals or exceeds the head 

 in size ; this sac is most developed during the breeding 

 season, when, from its pigmentation, the male's throat 

 is bluish or violet. The inner finder is not at all 

 thickened, but is covered in spring, or even through- 

 out the year, together with the second and third 

 fingers, with brown or blackish horny excrescences, 

 forming a band on the inner and upper side. 



In Bufo vulgaris the male is usually considerably 

 smaller than the female; in B. viridis the dispropor- 

 tion is less marked, and in this species it can hardly 

 be said to exist, although there is a slight difference 

 between the maximum lengths hitherto recorded in 

 the two sexes, viz. 74 mm. for the male (Brussels) 

 and 80 for the female (Geneva). 



