PEEFACE. 



The present Catalogue of tlie Batrachians of Southern India 

 is the offspring of the Catalogues of the ' Batrachia Salientia 

 S. Ecaudata ' (1882) and ' Batrachia Gradientia S. Caudata 

 and Batrachia Apoda ' (1882), in the collection of the British 

 Museum, by M. Boulenger, which I have followed throughout, 

 and from which I have received more assistance than I can 

 adequately express. I am further indebted to M. Boulenger 

 for the identification of specimens which I sent to him at 

 the British Museum. 



Our knowledge of the rarer species of the Batrachians, 

 which inhabit our Presidency, is mainly derived from the 

 field labours of the late Mr. Jerdon and Colonel Beddome, by 

 whom the majority of the specimens in the British Museum 

 were presented. 



Though as many as fifty-eight different species of Batra- 

 chians have been already recorded from Southern India, it 

 is highly probable that some new species still remain to be 

 discovered in the as yet imperfectly explored hill-ranges and 

 forests ; and of many which are already known, in some cases 

 only from single specimens, much remains to be learnt as to 

 their haunts, habits, and life-history. 



It is worthy of notice that a large number of species are 

 recorded in the British Museum Catalogue from Madras, but 

 it is probable that, in some cases, the word Madras must refer 

 to the Presidency and not to the city, for, so far as I know 

 from personal observation, only the followmg species are 

 found in, or in the vicinity of Madras itself, viz. : Bana 

 hexadactyla, Bana tigrina (bull frog), Bhacophorus maculatus 

 (' chunam frog'), Microhyla rubra, Callula olivacea, Bufo 

 melanostictus (house toad), and Cacopus systoma. 



EDGAR THURSTON, 



Madras, Government Central Museum, 



July 1, 1888. 



