176 Mr. G. A. Boulenger on 



And further {t. c. p. 281), alluding to Alytes, " Les males 

 sont, cliez cette esp^ce comnie cliez les autres, bieu plus 

 nomhreux que les femelles." 



I know that contradictory statements on this subject have 

 been made, by Leydig amonji: others, but I can only say that 

 my ex])erience coincides entiiely with Lataste's*, and parti- 

 cularly in the case of A/yfes, of which I have come across 

 hundreds of specimens in France and in Belgium f. This is 

 corroborated b}' the fact, which anyone may verify, that if, in 

 spring or early summer, a large number are caught at random 

 in the open or pulled out of their retreats, a much greater 

 ])roportion of males without eg^>i will be found than of 

 nursing individuals, notwithstanding the well-known ability 

 of the male to attend to two or even three females in 

 succession. 



It is therefore surprising to me that Kamnierer (4, pp. 101- 

 104), in his Mendelian experiments, should find an equal or 

 not very unequal number of mature individuals of either 

 sex : — 



1st generation : 29 reared to the adult condition, 12 cJ, 17 5 . 

 3rd „ 72 „ „ „ 43 „ 29 „ 



At the outset of his experiments he operated on a number 

 of specimens sent to him by Dr. 0. Hartmann, a dentist in 

 Munster, Westphalia, and tliis lot consisted of 14 males and 

 21 females (1, p. 69 ; 2, p. 455), a remarkable fact con- 

 sidering that Hartmann himself J says that he is unable to 

 distinguish surely the sexes externally ; the exphination may 

 be, however, that the largest specimens were chosen in 

 preference. A further surprising statement (1, p. 69 ; 2, 

 ]). 454) in connection with the Hartmann specimens is that 

 all the males should have bred three niohts after their 



* As Lataste has .not mentioned ^o?H6?'wflior, I may add that, out of 

 five small series of £. pachi/piis in the British Museum from France, Italy, 

 Roumauia, and Gi-eece, collected at random, there are 20 males and only 

 7 females. I do not mention other series of the same species in the 

 Museum because, collected by myself, tbey are to be considered as a 

 selection in Avhich the sexes have not been overlooked. 



t Just after writing these lines I have received (June 21) six Alytes 

 collected without di.'^crimiuation of the sexes in a garden in Bedford, 

 where they have established themselves for some years, and tive are males, 

 two carrying eggs. 



X ' J^atural Science,' viii. 1896, p. ^94. Also an article in 'Natur und 

 Haus,' reproduced in Brehm's ' Tierleben," 4th ed. (1912), i. p. 193. 



