IV. NOTES ON THE TADPOLES OF INDIAN 

 ENGYSTOMATIDAE. 



By C. R. Narayan Rao, M.A., L.T., Mysore University, Bangalore. 



The main object of this paper is to bring together all that is 

 known about the larvae belonging to this family found in India 

 and the Malay Peninsula, in order to facilitate further investigation 

 being undertaken. Of the species reported to occur in India, Burma, 

 and the Malay Peninsula, the life-history of only ten species 

 has been worked out and it is the experience of herpetologists that to 

 obtain the larvae of some of these and other forms is by no means 

 easy, owing to the special modes of life adopted by the great majority 

 of them. I am indebted to Dr. Annandale for the courtesy of allowing 

 me to examine the tadpoles belonging to the species Microhyla 

 achatina, ? M. berdmorei and Kaloula pulchra contained in the Indian 

 Museum collection. The larvae of eight species have been described 

 and annotated by different authors and only two^ are described here 

 for the first time. 



The following is the bibliography on the subject : — 



Annandale, N., Mem. As. Soc. Beng., Vol. VI, pp. 150-153 



(1917). 

 Butler, A. L., Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, Vol. XV, pp. 387- 



392 (1903-1904). 

 Ferguson, H. S., Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., Vol. XV, pp. 



505-508 (1903-1904). 

 Flower, S. S., Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1899, pp. 902-903. 

 Narayan Rao, C. R., Rec. Ind. Mus., Vol. XI, p. 31 (1915). 

 Narayan Rao, C. R., Rec. Ind. Mus., Vol. XIII, p. 281 (1917). 

 Smith, M., Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, Vol. II, pp. 37 and 40 



(1916). 



Key for the identification of the larvae discussed below : — 



Spiracle median, ventral ; mouth without beak or horny 



teeth ......... Engystomatidae. 



A. Tip of tail ends in flagellum ; lower caudal lobe twice 



the dorsal at the base ..... Microhyla. 



1. Head two-thirds of the body, former squarish. 



Body transparent, but not the sides . . M. ornata. 



2. Head less tlian half the body ; snout rounded, 



not squarish. Body not transparent . . M. rubra. 



3. Mouth surrounded by a float .... M. achatina. 



4. Body broader than long ; snout abbreviated and 



truncate ? M. berdmorei. 



5. Body less regularly oval ; snout shorter ; tint green M. pulchra. 



B. Tip of tail not flagellate, but pointed ; caudal fin 



membranes of equal depth . . . . • Kaloula. 



6. Spiracle a very large tube, nicked posteriorly. 



Body elongated, elliptical . . . ■ J<^- variegata. 



1 They belong to the species K. variegata and A', triangnlaris. Dr. Annandale tells 

 me that Dr. F. H. Gravely recently collected specimens of K. variegata at Chakradhaipur 

 in Chota Nagpur 



