56 BULLETIN 58, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



It will be remembered that Sclilegel, in Fauna Japanica, described 

 the toad of Japan as a variety of the European toad, to which he 

 attached the name Bufo vulgaris jaj^onicus, suppressing Boie's name 

 B. prsetextatus, as he says, "because of the great affinity which this 

 toad has to that of Europe, of which it is the representative in Japan." 

 The differences indicated by him are chiefly those of coloration. 



Camerano, in 1879, found the differences to be of such a character 

 as to induce him to regard the Japanese toad as a species, Bufo 

 japonicus, his principle being that any well-defined local form should 

 be so considered. His material consisted of 18 specimens in the 

 Zoological ]\Iuseum at Turin, nearly all being from Tokyo and Yoko- 

 hama. 



In the following year, 1880, we fuid both Lataste and Boulenger 

 treating of the subject. The former, who examined fourteen speci- 

 mens from Peking and two specimens from Japan (lent him by Cam- 

 erano), expresses himself in favor of recognizing a Bufo vulgaris 

 japonicus, while the latter, with sixteen specimens from various 

 Chinese localities and five Japanese, pronounced in favor of an undi- 

 vided Bufo vulgaris. The chief characters, he stated, are the more 

 prominent and spinous w^arts and the black horny layer on various 

 parts of the body, the rather larger head, and the blackish stripe on 

 the flanks. None of these characters appears to him to be constant, 

 and he adds that if the Japanese form should be separated from the 

 European it should certainly also be separated from the Chinese: 

 "But I' do not think that distinction necessary." This conclusion 

 he adhered to in his Catalogue of Batrachia Salientia, issued two 

 years later. It should be noted, however, that in the description of 

 the species he was obliged repeatedly to make excejitions for Chinese 

 or Japanese s])ecimens. 



Additional material did not alter his view, for, in 1890, in a paper 

 on the reptiles and batrachians of Amurland, he treats of Bufo vul- 

 garis in the following language: 



Its eastern range extends over nearly the whole of China and Amoorhind and Japan. 

 The differences between European and Japanese specimens, which consist chiefly in 

 the greater size and perfect distinctness of the tympanum, the black lateral stripe, 

 and the deep black spots or marl)lings of the lower parts in tlie latter, are comphH(4y 

 bridged over by the Chinese and Manehurian specimens. Specimens from Ichang, 

 on the Yangtse Kiang, and Ningpo come nearest the Japanese, from which they do 

 not differ in coloration; but the tympanum*, although as distinct, is not so large. Spec- 

 imens from Shanghai, Chefoo, Peking, and Korea are intermediate between the latter 

 and the European; the tympanum is always very distinct, but varies considerately in 

 size; the dark lateral stripe is usually ill-defined or absent, and the belly may be 

 either largely spotted with black or almost immaculate. Judging from the two speci- 

 mens collected at Chabarowka by Ilr. Dorries, the northe^rnmost form is still nearer the 

 European; the tympanum is rather small, but perfectly distinct, the belly is immac- 

 ulate, and the coloration might be said to be identical with that of European speci- 

 mens, biit for the presence of traces of a light vertebral line, as is often found in s{)eci- 

 mens from Japan, Korea, and Northern China. 



