208 



PELOBATIL\E. 



All the bones of the upper surface are closely 

 studded with granular or subcorneal asperities. A 

 further important difference in the skull of this species 

 compared to P. fuscus is the absence of the extra- 

 ordinary forward prolongation of the ethmoid ; this 

 bone does not extend beyond the nasals. 



Duges, basing his observations on this species, has 

 denied the fusion of the sacral vertebra with the 

 coccyx described by Mertens in Pelobates fuscus, with 

 which P. cultrvpes was then confounded ; he observes, 

 however, that the articulation, by means of one con- 

 dyle, is an almost immoveable one. 



In a specimen from Bordeaux, from which I prepared 

 the first skeleton, I found matters as stated by Duges, 

 whilst in two other skeletons, from Bordeaux and 

 Avignon, the two bones are as completely fused as in 

 P. fuscus. As the ankylosis of the sacrum and coccyx 

 has often been given as a generic character of Pelo- 

 bates, it is important to note the inconstancy of the 

 character in this species at least. 



Measurements op Skeleton (in millimetres). 



Habits. — Much the same as those of its congener. 

 P. cultripes seems, however, more partial to the coast, 

 being found in abundance, in France, on the sandy 

 dunes of the Atlantic littoral. It breeds in the end 

 of March or April in France, in March in Spain. Its 

 note, which I have only heard in specimens captured 



