HEBPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 51 



The genus Bombina has a very curious distribution. Two species, 

 Bombina homhina (Linnaeus) and Bomhina salsa "■ (Schrank), occur 

 in Europe, the former in northern and eastern central Europe. The 

 hitter, which seems to embrace several local forms, such as B. salsa 

 pachypus { = Bojnbinator apenninicus Gistel and Bronne, 1850), in 

 Italy, B. salsa nigriventris (Dueringen) in Bosnia and Montenegro, 

 B. salsa Tcolomhatovici (Bedriaga) in Dalmatia, etc., occupies France, 

 parts of southern central Europe, Italy, and the Balkan peninsula. 

 None of these species extends eastward beyond the Volga. A third 

 species of the genus occurs in eastern Asia, though probably not to 

 the west of a line through Lake Baikal. A fourth species, Bomhina 

 maxima, has recently been described from Yunnan at an altitude of 

 6,000 feet. 



BOMBINA ORIENTALISE' (Boulenger). 

 Plate VII. 



1878. Bombinalor igneus Martens, Preuss. Expod. Ost-Asien, Zool., I, p. 384 



(not of Laurenti) (Cliefu, N. China). — Boulenger, Cat. Batr. Sal. Brit. 



Mils., 1882, p. 447 (part: Chefu, China).— Boettger, Offenbach. Ver. 



Naturk. 24-25 Ber., 1885, p. 164 (Chefu). 

 1890. Bombinalor orientalis Boulenger, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6), V, Feb. 1890, 



p. 143, pi. IX, fig. 2c (type-localities, N. China, Korea, Khabarovka; 



types in Brit. Mus.); Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1890, p. 326 (Chefu; Korea; 



Ussuri). — Werner, Abh. Bayer. Akad. Wiss., (Muenchen) II Klasse, 



XXII, Pt. 2, 1904, p. 359 (Tsingtau, China).— Nikolski, Zap. Imp. 



Akad. Nauk, S. Peterburg, (8) XVII, No. 1 (1905) p. 415 (Vladivostok; 



Korea, etc.). 



Description (^gs. 39-4:3) . — Adult male; U.S.N.M. No. 17522; Fusan, 

 Korea; 1885; P. L. Jouy, collector. Vomerine teeth in two 



o In his Tailless Batrachians of Europe, p. 322, footnote, Doctor Boulenger, in 

 adopting the sixteen years younger name Rana agilis in preference to the older R. 

 dahnatina, as required by "the strict application of the law of priority," pleads that 

 "this is one of those cases in which, it appears to me, conservatism is desirable," 

 and he continues: "Similar considerations have guided me in the naming of the two 

 species of the genus Eombinator, and I hope, in the interest of stability of nomenclature 

 they will commend themselves to future workers." It is indeed not uncommon to 

 hear the breaking of this law termed "conservatism," and certainly the conserva- 

 tives ought to know if that is a correct definition, but we radicals prefer to submit . 

 to the law as the only means of obtaining the desired "stability of nomenclature." 

 If Boulenger, in the two cases cited, had followed the law we would by this time 

 have reached stability in their cases, while now it has been postponed probably for 

 a generation. Who is to decide in which cases it is allowable to break the law and 

 substitute "conservatism?" A simple "it appears to me" applied here and there 

 by a dozen herpetologists would cause a fine "stability!" 



b Eastern. 



c Reproduced in this work on Plate VII. 



