29 



17. Rana temporalis [Plate V. 4]. 



Hana temporalis, Blgr. Cat. 1882, p. 63. 

 Rana malabarica,^ part G'unth. Cat. 1858, p. 11. 

 Hylarana malabarica, Kelaart, Prodr. Faun. Zcylan. I. 1852, p. 191. 

 ? Eaua flavescens, Jerdon, Journ. Afi. 8oc. Bern). 1853, p. 531. 

 Hylarana temporalis, Guntlt. Ropt. Brit. Ind. 1864, p. 427, pi. 

 XXVI. fig. Q-, and Bvoc. Zool. Soc. 1875, p. 569. 



Hylarana flavescens, Jerdon, Proc. As. Soc. Beng. 1870, p. 83. 



Tympanum very distinct, three-fourths the size of the eye ; toes 

 nearly entirely webbed ; tips of fingers and toes dilated into rather 

 large discs ; inner metatarsal tubercle small, oval ; a small outer meta- 

 tarsal tubercle. Colour and markings (of spirit specimens) : brown 

 above ; loreal and temporal regions, and sometimes also the sides of the 

 body, dark brown ; limbs distinctly cross-barred ; throat and breast more 

 or less speckled with brown. The male has an oval flat gland on the 

 inner side of the arm. 



Specimens in the British Museum from Malabar and the Anamallays ; 

 in the Madi'as Museum from the Anamallays, and Nilgiris, the latter 

 found on a tree-fern by the margin of a stream near Coonoor : length of 

 body 3 inches, hind leg 5 J inches. In one of the specimens from the 

 Nilgiris the throat and breast were scarcely, and in the other densely 

 speckled with brown. The hinder side of the thighs was brown, with 

 yellow marbling. 



2. RHAC0PH0RUS.2 



Synopsis oj Species. 



1. Fingers not more than one-third webbed ; vomerine teeth between the 

 choance. 



a. Tympanum distinct, more than half the width of the eye. 



Belly granular ; nostril much nearer the tip of the snout than the 

 eye ; tibio-tarsal articulation reaching the tip of the snout. 



1. maculatus, p. 31. 



b. Tympanum distinct, not more than half the width of the eye ; 

 nostril equally distant from the eye and the tip of the snout. 



Fingers very distinctly webbed ; hinder side of thighs brown, 

 speckled with white. 2. pkurostictus, p. 30. 



2. Three outer fingers nearly entirely webbed ; toes nearly webbed. 

 Discs of fingers and toes smaller than the tympanum. 



3. lateralis, p. 32. 



1 A species, which is not recognised by Boulenger, was recorded by Jerdon (Journ. 

 As. Soc. Beng. 1853, p. 531) as Rana malabarica, and described as being found only on the 

 West Coast, and chiefly during the monsoon when it enters houses, and makes a great 

 gobbling so much like a turkey that some people call it the ' Turkey frog.' 



2 Concerning this genus Boulenger says (Cat. 1882, p. 8) : " Had not the species been 

 so numerous, I would have hesitated to separate Rana from Rhacophortis, which I charac- 

 terise by the presence of a more or less developed web between the fingers. Though both 

 genera pass into each other and constitute an uninterrupted series of species, I think 

 that division convenient, it being easy to ascertain whether the fingers are quite free or 

 webbed." 



