160 S. J. DE BOLKAY (6) 



biological peculiarity of biuTowing itself in the soil at the beginning 

 of the dry-season.' 



According to this supposition we oiight to find on the ileiim 

 of Rana cliinensis Ose. exactly the same oonditions, as stated on 

 Rana Mchelyi By. ; the fact is however, that the ileum of llaiia clti- 

 nrnsis Ose. vvith regard to its moiphological characters does not diffei- 

 froni those mentioned as general charaeteristics of the species of the 

 genus Rana. 



The pelvis of a true buirowing-frog — as for instance that of 

 Tclobales and Callula — has such an entirely different constructioii, 

 as quite unfits it for comparative studies, so that in this respect 

 l'iuna Mcheltji Stands alone. The shortness of the tarsus permits us 

 most decidedly to presume that Rana Mehehji must not have been 

 an agile leaping-frog, as the length of tarsus is in exact jiropoiHon 

 with the leaping abihty. 



We can consider Rana Mehehji as the common predecessor of 

 the paiearctic brown-frogs contrarily to the opinion of Prof. Simroth, 

 who States (Pendulationstheorie, p. 244) that all the europaean brown- 

 frogs can be derived from the Common frog. This acceptation however 

 does not appear justified, the recent species taking their origin at 

 least in one of the earlier geological epochs. liaiia Mehelyi By. was 

 found up to now in the following localities : Ö-Ruzsin, Miskolcz (.Puska- 

 poros cavern) and on the mount Somlö, near Püspökfürdö, in Hungary. 



1 BoLKAY : A khinai beka systematikai erteke. AUattani Közlemenyek, VIII. kötet, 

 1909. p. 64. 



