68 BOLKAY 



it as Hoplobatrachus reinhardti, the latter under the name Tomop- 

 terus porosa. Lataste calls it R. esculenta marmorata. Boulenger 

 refers to it at first as R. esculenta var. japonica, then as var. nigro- 

 maculata, and quite lately as var. chinensis Osbeck. 



R. chinensis has been mentioned only once in Hungarian literature, 

 Professor von Mehely describing as R. esculenta var. chinensis the 

 three specimens collected at Peking by the Zichy expedition. 



The great confusion existing in literature upon that question, 

 as well as the statements by Professor von Mehely and Professor 

 Wolterstorff, induced me to study the Chinese frog. My aim is 

 to point out, with especial regard to the osteological marks, the 

 systematic position of R. chinensis, and to prove at last that the 

 Chinese frog has nothing to do with R. esculenta, and that taking 

 all of its characteristic features into consideration, it can be placed 

 near to R. ridibunda Pallas. 



I find it necessary to give a detailed description of the species, 

 improved and completed by the result of recent observations made 

 upon specimens from the Hungarian National Museum as well as 

 upon others from China bought at Magdeburg from Wolterstorff. 

 Having pursued my investigations in the Hungarian National 

 Museum, I wish here to express particular thanks to Professor von 

 Mehely for the kind assistance he lent me in my work, allowing me 

 the benefit of the Museum's material as well as giving me most 

 valuable information. 



RANA CHINENSIS Osbeck. 

 Synonymy. 1 



1765. Rana chinensis Osbeck, Reise Ostind. China, I, (p. 244); 

 Voy. China (Engl, ed.), I, 1771, p. 299 (Canton, China). 



1906. Rana esculenta subsp. chinensis Wolterstorff, Abhdl. Berichte 



d. Mus. f. Natur. und Heimatkunde zu Magdeburg, Bd. 

 I, Heft 3, 1906, pp. 135-143- 



1907. Rana nigromaculata, Stejneger, Herpetology of Japan and 



adjacent Territory, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 58, p. 94, 

 pi. 10, fig. 1. 



1 For complete Synonymy see Stejneger, Herpetology of Japan, cited above. 



