44 REPTILES. 



lialf-wclibcd, in one specimen the membrane is only rudimentary ; 

 toes half- webbed. Tongue elongate, ovoid, behind rather broader ; 

 on each side, in the male, a cleft for the gular sac ; eustachian tubes 

 and inner nares small. Size of Bomhinator igneus. 



3. Phryniscus cruciger. (Plate III. fig. B.) 



Phiynidiuni crucigerum, Martem, I. c. p. 41. 



Upper parts without spines, with a few flat warts ; snout pointed, 

 much protruding, obliquely truncated, the prolonged outlines forming 

 an acute angle ; canthus rostralis not swollen, crowTi flat ; extremi- 

 ties slender ; plantar and palmar siu'facc nearly smooth ; tarsus with 

 a cutaneous fold at the inner edge ; first and second fingers with a 

 rudimentary membrane between ; first finger short. Above oHve, 

 pimctulated with black and more or less regular figures ; beneath 

 imiform whitish. 



a-d. Adult. Curanna (2000 feet). From Mr. Dyson's Collection. 



Description. — Habit rather slender, raniform. Head angidar, 

 canthus rostralis not or not much swollen ; cro'^ni and loreal region 

 rather flat ; nose much protruding, rather rounded in front, obliquely 

 truncated, reaching far beyond the mouth ; the lateral outlines, if 

 prolonged, would fonu an angle of about 55°. IMouth moderately 

 cleft ; nares small, lateral, narrow. Back with only a few small 

 flat warts ; cro^vn of head quite smooth ; upper parts of the extremi- 

 ties covered with small warts ; from tlie eye along the side of back 

 near to the anus a series of flat, large, spiny warts ; spiny warts on 

 the sides scarce ; under parts quite smooth. Extremities rather 

 slender ; humenis mueli longer than occiput broad ; thigh and calf 

 nearly equal in length, much longer than hiunerus. Toes half- 

 webbed. Tongue much elongate, narrow, entire behind ; inner 

 nares small, eustachian tubes none. Only on the right side of the 

 tongue a cleft for the vocal sac. Above olive, pimctulated Avith 

 black ; black crossing streaks between the shoulders, three radiating 

 towards the forehead and the two eyelids ; black irregular streaks 

 on tlie back and the legs, sometimes wanting ; a black lateral streak 

 along the series of warts, running through the eye ; beneath uniform 

 whitish. Body of the largest specimen 3" long. 



I doubted a long time whether the above specimens form a separate 

 species, or whether they belong to Phri/nidium crucigerum, established 

 and published by Martcus in 1856. He found, by a closer examina- 

 tion of the Berlin specimens, that Fhrynidium agrees with PJiri/niscus 

 in the structure of the ear. But then the only difterenccs between 

 the two genera woidd be, that the former has one tubercle on the 

 metatarsus and a smooth sldn. Botli these characters are produced 

 by an imperfect preservation of the Berlin specimens, at least as 

 regards PJ)r>f)iidium crucigerum. The metatarsal tubercles arc very 

 flat, and become easily invisible ; and the same is the case with the 

 lateral spiny warts, Mhich are so characteristic of the species. 

 Perhaps they are more pronoimccd in the male (sec Bufo agiia, p. 64). 



