BUFO.] AMPHIBIA CADUCIBRANCHIA. 301 



year the species was introduced, for the first time, into that country*. 

 Frequents the water during its larva state; afterwards, only resorts 

 to it occasionally, or for the purpose of spawning. Ova deposited in 

 clusters, in ditches and shallow ponds, about the middle of March : young, 

 or Tadpoles, hatched a month or five weeks afterwards, according to the 

 season : by the eighteenth of June, these are nearly full-sized, and 

 begin to acquire their fore feet : towards the end of that month or the 

 beginning of the next (varying in different years), the young frogs come 

 on land, but the tail is still preserved for a short time afterwards. 

 During the breeding season, the thumb of the male is much swollen. 

 Food, principally insects. 



(1.) R. esculenta, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 357. Turt. Brit. 



Faun. p. 80. Flem. Brit. An. p. 159. E. viridis, Roes. Ran. 



tabb. 13, 14. Edible Frog, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. in. p. 13. Green 



Frog, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. in. p. 103. pi. 31.' Id. Nat. Misc. 



vol. xx. pi. 871. 



Larger than the common species. Colour olive-green, spotted with 

 black : three longitudinal streaks of yellow down the back : belly yel- 

 lowish. 



This species, which is common in France and in other parts of the 

 Continent, has been included in the British Fauna upon rather doubtful 

 authority. In the late Mr. Don's account of the plants and animals 

 found in Forfarshire, it is asserted (p. 37.) that a few are occasionally to 

 be met with about the lakes in that district, although rather rare. More 

 recently, Dr. Stark is saidt to have found it in the neighbourhood of 

 Edinburgh. I cannot but think, however, that, in both these instances, 

 some other species, possibly a new one, has been mistaken for it, since it 

 seems hardly probable that an animal so common in the South of Europe, 

 should be found in Scotland, and not in any part of England. Although 

 represented as indigenous by all our British authors, none, with the ex- 

 ception of those above mentioned, have assigned any locality for it. It is 

 much to be desired that Dr. Stark would investigate the subject more 

 thoroughly, and compare the specimens, which he finds in his neighbour- 

 hood $, with the true R. esculenta of the Continent. 



GEN. 2. BUFO, Laurent. 



2. B. vulgaris, Flem. (Common Toad.) Lurid 

 brownish gray, with reddish brown tubercles : body large 

 and swollen. 



B. vulgaris, Flem. Brit. An. p. 159. B. terrestris, Rces. Ran. tab. 20. 

 Rana Bufo, Linn. Syst. Nat. torn. i. p. 354. Turt. Brit. Faun. 

 p. 80. Bufo, Ray, Syn. Quad. p. 252. Toad, Penn. Brit. Zool. 

 vol. in. p. 14. Common Toad, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. in. p. 138. 

 pi. 40. Crapaud commun, Cuv. Reg. An. torn. n. p. 109. 



DIMENS. Length three inches three lines ; hind leg three inches six 

 lines ; fore leg two inches. 



DESCRIPT. (Form.) Body broad, thick, and very much swollen : head 

 large, with the crown much flattened, the snout obtuse and rounded : 

 gape extremely wide : no teeth either in the jaws or on the palate : 



* See Edinb. New Phil. Journ. vol. xvm. p. 372. 



t Proceed, of Zool. Soc. (1833) p. 88. 



t That they are not simple varieties of the R. temporaries, is probable from the circumstance 

 of Dr. Stark s having observed osteological differences between them and the species just alluded 

 to. But I think it remains to be shewn that they are really the R. esculenta. 



