HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 59 



comes nearest to the mainland forms. -Bonlenger then mamtains 

 that this form approaches the Chinese specimens from Ningpo and 

 Yangtse-Kiang:, while the Shanghai, Chefu, Manclmrian, Korean, and 

 Ussuri specimens are intermediate between the Japanese form and 

 the true European Bufo vulgaris. The differences are chiefly those 

 of color, and the relative size and distinctness of the ^ tympanum . 

 Thus Boulenger, in discussing the characters of Bufo formosus 

 asserts that a black line bordering the lower lip ''is constant in the 

 Japanese specimens of B. vulgaris, absent in the continental speci- 

 mens. " On the whole, my own observations corroborate those of 

 Boulenger; yet while it is admitted that the separating characters 

 are somewhat vague and uncertain, it is considered best to recognize 

 the various local forms for the present at least until more abundant 

 and more reliably la]:)eled material shall have been accumulated. It 

 may then be expedient to recognize three oriental forms of the 

 connnon European toad, one from eastern South China, one from 

 northeastern China, Korea and Amurland, and one from Japan. The 

 status of a fourth one, B. sacJialinensis, is more uncertain yet. 



The third and final question now arises as to the names to be 

 applied to these forms. As for the Japanese form, the question 

 is somewhat intricate because of the occurrence of several forms or 

 species in the islands. Unfortunately there is nothing in Boie's 

 description of Bufo prsetextatus by which it can be decided which of 

 these he had before him, and as the type is not in existence, his 

 name may be left out as unidentifiable. Schlegel's material upon 

 which he based his Bufo vulgaris japonicus, as has been shown, was 

 composed of specimens of both forms. The illustrations m Fauna 

 Japonica, although very good, fail to throw much light on the ques- 

 tion, for while the full figure apparently represents the short-webbed 

 form (B. formosus), the profile of the head seems to be taken from a 

 specimen with a smaller tympanum, possibly from a .B. smithi. The 

 illustrations as well as the description and the type-material conse- 

 quently are composite. It would then seem that Boulenger's action 

 in describing the short- webbed form as Bifo formosus and relegating 

 B. vulgaris japonicus to B. vulgaris should not now be undone, and 

 that the names must stand as he restricted them. 



The South China form must stand as Bufo hufo gargarizansiCsmtor)" 

 while the North China form probably is properly named Bufo hufo 

 asiaticus (Stemd&chneT) , as Boulenger refers the Shanghai specimens 

 to the same category as the Chefu and Manchurian ones. 



al842. Bufo gargarlzans Cantor, Ann. Nat. Hist., IX, Aug. 1842, p. 483 (type- 

 locality, Chusan, China; types in Brit. Mus.). 

 1860. ? Bufo griseus Hallowell, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1860, p. 506 (type-locality, 

 marshes of Whampoa, Hongkong; Stinipson, collector). 



