174 DISCOGLOSSID,*:. 



to the origin of the hind limbs, its anterior extremity 

 bent downwards and forwards. This specimen is 

 figured above (p. 104, Fig. 46, c). 



Lead-grey to blackish above, uniform or with round 

 blackish spots ; sides with large silvery or pale golden 

 spots ; tail with numerous dark brown dots or round 

 black spots, which are very apparent on the greyish- 

 white crests. Nearly black tadpoles as well as albinos 

 are on record. 



Total length 80 mm.; body, 28; width of body, 

 21; tail, 52 ; depth of tail, 19. Exceptionally grows 

 to 90 mm. 



Habitat. — The midwife toad is common in France 

 nearly everywhere ; it is also found in Belgium (pro- 

 vinces Namur, Liege, and Luxemburg), South-eastern 

 Holland (Limburg), Luxemburg, Switzerland, Vorarl- 

 berg, in Germany along the Rhine, and locally in hilly 

 districts as far east as Brunswick and Thuriugia 

 (Hameln on the Weser being the northernmost, Nord- 

 hausen and Eisenach the easternmost points of its 

 ascertained distribution), and all over Spain and 

 Portugal. It ascends to 5000 feet in the Alps of 

 Switzerland, and to 6500 feet in the Pyrenees (Lac 

 Bleu, Hautes-Pyrenees), where the snow is not 

 absent for more than three months. 



Specimens have been introduced by Knauthe near 

 Schlaupitz, in Silesia, some years ago, and appear 

 to have established themselves there. The species is 

 stated to occur in Bukowina, whence it was described 

 by Zawadski in 1840. It would be highly interesting 

 to ascertain whether it does really extend so far to the 

 east ; for the present the statement can only be 

 accepted with caution. 



In France the midwife toad is found in the plains 

 as well as in the mountains ; common at Biarritz, close 

 to the sea, it extends high up the Pyrenees. I have 

 also found it on the coast of Normandy, and, as Prof. 

 Bavay informs me, it occurs on the coast of Finistere. 

 East of the Rhine, however, its habitat, like that of 



