30 



3. Fingers entirely icehbed. 



a. Vomerine teeth in two series on a level with the front edges of the 

 choan£e. 



Heel with a dermal appendage ; no spots. 4. malabaricm, p. 32. 



h. Vomerine teeth in two oblique series between, and extending 

 backwards a little beyond the choanse. 



Fingers and toes webbed to the discs, which are as large as the 

 tympanum. 5. beddomii, p. 32. 



1. Ehacophorus pleurostictus [Plate VI. 1]. 



Rhacophorus pleurostictus, BIgr. Cat. 1882, p. 79. 

 Polypedates pleurostictus, Gilnth. Rept. Brit. Ind. 1864, p. 430, pi. 

 XXVI, fig. 1. 



? Polypedates variabilis, Jerdon, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1853, p. 

 632. 



Tympanum small, indistinct, not quite one-third the width of the 

 eye ; fingers very distinctly webbed at the base ; discs well-deVeloped ; 

 toes broadly webbed, the interdigital membrane extending to the discs 

 of the third and fifth toes ; metatarsus with a single tubercle. Colour 

 and markings (of spirit specimens) : greenish or greyish above, with or 

 without dark insuliform spots ; skin of the back smooth, of the sides • 

 and the belly finely granular ; flanks and hinder sides of thighs brown, 

 the former marbled, the latter speckled with white. 



For the following note on living specimens of this species I am 

 indebted to Mr. J. R. Henderson : — 



" Very variable in colour ; the following descriptions apply to very 

 dark, and very light specimens respectively. 



a. " Grround colour yellow, with many large bands and spots of a 

 rich chocolate brown edged with black, and also a few orange spots. 

 Smaller brownish spots are found between the large colour markings. 

 Limbs banded transversely with chocolate brown. Under surface 

 greyish with a few dark mottlings on the throat. 



h. " Ground colour light brown, with the bands and spots of a slightly 

 darker tint, and edged with black, sometimes minute creamy white spots 

 on back. Under surface white with the mottlings on the throat almost 

 obsolete or well marked. Limbs banded with brown transverse mark- 

 ings. The spots on the sides of the body considerably darker than on 

 the back or bright yellow. 



'' The commonest species of * Tree Frog ' at Kotagiri ; frequently 

 found in gardens, about water butts, &c. Young specimens are yellowish 

 green, and have only a few dark markings." 



There can be very little doubt that this species is the same as the 

 P. variabilis of Jerdon, who calJs it the green frog of the Ni'lgiris, 

 and describes it as a green frog, " sometimes unspotted, at other times 

 with gold spots or blackish spots ; at times golden yellow with brown 

 spots ; at other times brown with darker spots. 



Length 2\ inches ; hind leg 4 ; foot l-j-^ths. Found in the Nilgiris, 

 in the banks of streams and in shrubs." 



