BUFONIDAE 169 



patches. Total length little more than one inch. Conceiniug 

 the breeding habits, see p. 223. 



Nectophryne. — The sacral diapophyses are strongly dilated. 

 N. afra, without a tympanum, but with fully- webbed digits and 

 several broad, cushion-like or lamellar pads on the fingers and 

 toes, inhabits the Cameroons, i\^ tuberculosa of Malabar, and 

 iV. guentheri and JV. kosei of Borneo, have a visible tympanum 

 and the fingers are webbed at the base only. These slender 

 and long-legged species are most probably arboreal, as indicated 

 by the broadened, but truncated, tips of their fingers and toes. 

 Jf. hosei is about 4 inches long, K misera is a little creature of 

 only |- inch in length. Kectes, hitherto known by one species, 

 N. suhasper of Java, is a swimmer and exceeds 6 inches in 

 length. The tympanum is very distinct ; the small nostrils look 

 upwards. The toes are long and webbed to the tips ; the hind- 

 limbs are very long. The sacral diapophyses are strongly dilated. 

 The skin of the upper parts is very rugose, covered with round 

 warts, and dark brown ; the under parts are granular and uni- 

 formly light brown. 



Bufo. — The great number of species, more than 100, renders 

 a strict definition of this genus difficult. The tongue is pear- 

 shaped, thicker in front, entire, not cut out, but free Ijehind, so 

 that it can l^e projected. The fingers are free, the toes more 

 or less webbed although never completely so. The terminal 

 phalanges are obtuse and sometimes carry tiny discs. The 

 omosternum is absent or merely vestigial. The metasternum 

 is a rather large cartilaginous plate with a waist, which is 

 sometimes incompletely calcified. The sacral diapophyses are 

 moderately dilated. The tympanum is distinct or hidden. The 

 skin of the upper parts is always rich in specific poison-glands, 

 a concentration of which forms in many species very conspicuous, 

 thickened parotoid glands. The surface of the skin may be 

 smooth, moist and slimy, or rough and warty, sometimes covered 

 with tiny, sharp, horny spikes and quite dry. 



The genus is cosmopolitan, with the exception of the whole 

 Australian region and Madagascar, from which we may perhaps 

 conclude that its original centre was not in Notogaea, in spite 

 of the diversity of species in the Neotropical region, which now 

 contains about half of all the species known. Next to Central 

 America, the Indian region is richest in species of Bvfo. 



