2 IS 



J\lr, G. A. r>onl»MiQ;rr on the liaccs: and 



Joes not deserve to slaiul. 'i'heso pxce|»ti(Mi.s, occnninpr in 

 Asia, cannot be disposed of by an appeal to liybridity, as in 

 the case of critical specimens from Ciennany and Aiistria- 

 llunji;arv, where the var. ridihunda occurs side by side witli 

 the typical form, which fact would render such an assumption 

 lefrilimate. From what I have myself obs;'rved in the Spn'c 

 lakes near Berlin, I have no doubt the two forms cross in 

 exceptional cases, notwithstanding tlie asyiiuamy wiiich 

 maintains tlieir segregation when living together, but w ■. 

 liavc no |)ractical means of discriminating between such 

 mongrels atid truly annectant specimens. 



I may mention that the tibiae feebly overlap in one 

 specimeji of the typical form from Warsaw and in anotlit-r 

 from ]Mestre. As regards tlie R. chinensis, I am greatly 

 surprised at Bolkay's statement, which is contrary to th« 

 descriptions by myself and by Wolterstorff *, altho\igh 

 supported by the description of one specimen by Stejuegcrf; 

 the two first authors agree as to the heels meeting, W oltt^i- 

 storff even adding that they sometimes slightly overlap ; 

 the only specimens in which I find the heels not to meet aie 

 from Kobe, Japan (two), and Pekin (6 out of 26), and they 

 must be regarded as cxci-ptions to the rule. 



Although the hind limb is often shorter in t!ie female thiin 

 in the male, this is by no means generally the rase; I c;in 

 show no end of female specimens of the var. ridibunda from 

 Central and Eastern Europe and Asia in which the tibio- 

 tarsal articulation reaches beyond the eye, and even one, 

 from Alemtejo, Portugal, in which it extends to the tip of 

 the snout — that is, farther than in most nudes ; in a male 

 from Corunna it reaches the eye, whilst in a female of 

 identical size and locality it reaches between the eye and 

 the nostril. 



Bolkay's way of expressing the length of the inner meta- 

 tarsal tubercle as compared to the inner toe originates from 

 me, with certain reservations, however J, but I have aban- 

 doned it long ago, having found many specimens of t!ie 

 typical form in which the tubcicle is not longer than its 

 distance from the subarticuhir tubercle of thefiist toe, whilst, 

 on the other h;in 1, it may be as long in specimens of the 

 var. ridiliutida. 



If has boen pointed out by Bedriaga §, Wolterstorff, and 

 Bulkay that the u.'-ually highly develo])ed, shovel-shaped 



* Abh. Miis. :\Irvfrcleb. i. lOOG, p. UO. 



t Ilerp. Ja|.aii,p'. 1)7 (1907). 



I Proc. Zool. S.jc. ]88o, p. G08. 



§ Wis^. Res. I'rzoWiiWa Kxped., Zool. iii. i. p. 15 (1899), 



