1^1^. ] N. Annandale: tadpoles from S. India. 1^ 



is dextral, but not very strongly so ; it does not form a prominent 

 tubercle or tube. 



The dorsal surface of the head and body is of a dark purplish-brown, 

 minutely speckled with white and somewhat marbled on the snout. 

 The lateral surface of the tail is also purplish-brown marbled with 

 white ; the whole of the ventral surface is colourless. 



The hind limbs appear at an early stage of development and attain 

 a large size and well-developed condition long before the appearance 

 of the fore limbs. 



The following are measurements of (A) of a specimen in which the 

 hind limbs appear as small but elongated buds, and (B) of one in which 

 they are fully developed. 



A. B. 



Total length .... 

 Length of head and body . 

 Breadth of head and body 

 Depth of body .... 

 Greatest depth of tail 



A large series of this remarkable tadpole and of young frogs was 

 taken by Dr. F. H. Gravely at the edge of a rocky stream on the Cochin 

 hills in September, 1914. He describes the larger individuals (in which 

 the fore limbs had not appeared) as skipping rapidly over damp rocks 

 when disturbed. It is very curious that a frog so closely allied to R. 

 leptodactyla and R. setnipahnata should possess a larva so different, but it 

 is clear that the tadpoles of all these forms are very highly modified. 



Specimens of laevae in the collection of the Indian Museum :— 



17671. Parambikulam, 1700-3200 ft., Cochin State (F. H. Gravely). 



Rana leptodactyla, Boulenger. 

 (Plate I, figs. 2, 2a, 2&.) 

 Boulenger, op. cit., p. 454. 



The tadpole is moderately small ; the head and body are moderately 

 stout, oval ; the snout is narrowly rounded in front, somewhat con- 

 stricted laterally, declivous ; the eyes are situated far forward, directed 

 forwards and outwards, lateral rather than dorsal, probably very pro- 

 minent in life ; nostrils about half way between eye and tip of snout, 

 further apart than their distance from the eyes ; the interorbital breadth 

 nearly twice the internasal ; a row of minute white glands runs round 

 the outer and upper margins of the orbit, passing along above the nostril 

 on each side to meet its fellow in the middle line a short distance from 

 the tip of the snout. The spiracle is small, sinistral, situated nearer the 

 dorsal surface than the ventral and nearer the eye than the base of the 

 hind limb. The ventral surface is strongly convex. 



The mouth-disk is small, directed downwards and a little forwards, 

 without horny teeth ; the upper lip is very distinct, forming a crescentic 

 membrane which can be closed down over the mouth, fringed with short, 

 pointed papillae and bearing two or three rows of similar papillae at its 



