RANA. 



309 



shorter than 

 Tibia a little 

 little shorter 



Vertebral column twice and a half to three times as 

 long as the skull. Second diapophysis once and a 

 half as Ions' as the seventh, which is considerably 

 the sacral ; latter directed backwards, 

 longer than the femur, as long as or a 

 than the pes ; a large sesamoid bone 

 below the tibio- tarsal articulation. Tarsus nearly half 

 as long as the tibia. Two bones to the prsepollex and 

 two or three to the praehallux. Terminal phalanges 

 feebly expanded at the end. 



The skeleton here figured is that of a female from 

 the Alps of Piedmont, in which the hind limb is a 

 little more elongate in proportion than in British 

 examples. 



Measurements of Skeleton (in millimetres). 



Habits. — Ban a temporal* ia must be regarded, on 

 the whole, as a terrestrial frog, although less strictly 

 so than B. arvalis and B. agilis. It is by no means 

 unusual to find specimens in ponds or pools through- 

 out the summer. The majority, however, spend the 

 greater part of their active life on laud, in fields, 

 gardens, meadows, and woods. Many males hibernate 

 under water. The breeding season falls earlier than 

 in any other species, in January and February in the 

 south, in March and April in the north. In the ex- 

 ceptional year 1894 the common frog began to spawn, 



