HERPETOLOGY OF JAPAN. 



List of specimens of Polypedates viridis. 



149 



n Type ; poor condition. 



6 Dimensions, p. 148; figs. 137-141. 



POLYPEDATES OWSTONI, " new species. 



Diagnosis. — Similar to Polypedates viridis and like it having the 

 dermal margin of fingers equaling the bone in width; nostrils at least 

 twice as far from the eye as the latter is from the edge of the lip; legs 

 shorter, the tibio-tarsal joint not reaching beyond the center of the 

 eye; distance from end of coccyx to end of sacral diapophysis much 

 less than width of head and not more than distance from tip of snout 

 to posterior rim of tympanum; no outer metatarsal tubercle. 



Type. — U.S.N.M. No. 34333; Ishigaki shima, Yaeyama group, 

 Riu Kiu Archipelago. 



Remarks. — ^This new form is closely related both to P. viridis, from 

 Okinawa shima, and to P. sclilegelii, from Japan proper. With the 

 former it shares the greater width of the fingers relative to the disks, 

 due to the greater width of the lateral dermal margins, and also the 

 greater distance of the nostrils from the eje, if this indeed is a char- 

 acter to be relied upon, while wdth the latter it has in common the 

 comparatively shorter hind legs, inasmuch as the tibio-tarsal joint 

 does not reach beyond the center of the eye when the hind leg is 

 stretched forward along the side of the body. Correlated with this 

 character is the relative shortness of the sacrum. In P. owstoni the 

 distance from the end of sacral diapophysis to the end of the coccyx, 

 or so-called urostyle, equals the distance from tip of snout to center 

 of tympanum, being much less than the width of the head, while in 

 the specimen of P. viridis examined by me that distance is much 

 greater than from tip of snout to posterior rim of tympanum and 

 at least as great as the width of the head. The inner metatarsal 

 tubercle is larger than in P. viridis, but an outer tubercle is entirely 

 absent. Most of the specimens have the sides, the anterior and 

 posterior aspects of femur as well as the underside of the tibia, dotted 

 with small roundish spots of a dark purplish brown, but this charac- 

 ter, unfortunately, is not without exceptions. 



As with P. viridis a detailed description is superfluous, but a list 

 of measurements of the type specimen is appended for comparison 

 with the others. 



oNamed for Alan Owston, esq., of Yokohama, to whom science is indebted for nu- 

 merous interesting additions to the Japanese fauna. 



