INTRODUCTION. 



The great increase of the number of species of Amphibians 

 known from the Dutch East Indies, which has taken place 

 especially since the beginning of this century, seems to make 

 a critical compilation of the very dispersed literature on this 

 subject not superfluous. In the present work I have given 

 descriptions with synoptic tables of all Amphibians and tadpoles 

 known from that region. 



In confining its boundaries I followed the authors of the 

 works on Fishes and Reptiles of this same series in extending 

 them a little beyond the Dutch Archipelago. So I included 

 the whole of Borneo, Timor and New Guinea and also the 

 island Pelawan, the fauna of which is closely related to that 

 of Borneo, and the Bismarck archipelago, Solomon islands and 

 a few other islands, which show the same affinity to New 

 Guinea. A ! behind the name of a locality means that I have 

 seen one or more specimens from that locality. 



For each species I cited only the more important literature, 

 f. i. those papers in which further ones are quoted and those 

 which contain synonymes or figures. Papers issued before 1882, 

 the year of publication of the well-known Catalogue of 

 Boulenger, as a rule are not mentioned, except those which 

 contain original descriptions. 



I must add here a short explication of the manner used 

 by me in taking the measures. In the description of the adult 

 animals with length I mean, if not otherwise stated, the dis- 

 tance from the tip of the snout to the posterior end of the 

 body. The measures given are the largest ones which are 

 known. In measuring the length of the head I take the distance 

 from the tip of the snout to the posterior border of the skull 

 in the median line ; its %vidth is measured at the point, where 

 the head is broadest, i. e. usually at its posterior end. The 

 length of the snout is taken from its tip to the anterior border 



