THE AFRICAN FROGS. 



355 



Amongst the not very numerous East Indian species of the genus Rana is Kohl's Frog,* with a 

 large web to its feet. It lives in Ceylon, Java, Celebes, and in China. The lower jaw has a pair of 

 fang-like prominences in front. The Indian Bull Frog f has the web broad, notched, and it does not 

 extend to the extremity of the fourth toe. It is common over the whole of Hindostan, and is found 

 also in Ceylon, Sikkim, the Malayan Peninsula, China, and the Islands of the Archipelago. Some 

 measure six or seven inches in length. The young are very small. They abound, and when they are 

 frightened they jump over the surface of the water much in the same manner as they do on land. 

 Dr. Giinther has described the Edible Frog J from Ningpo, and thus its distribution is not only in every 

 part of Europe and in North Africa, but also in Central Asia to China and Japan. A Frog closely 



CYSTIGNATHUS OKXATU8. 



resembling the English Rana temporaria, but having lai'ger limbs, is found in Japan and in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Ningpo; and it is even allied in shape to Rana silvatica of Lecomte, from North America. 



With regard to the African Frogs, there are two sharp-headed, slender-bodied, long-limbed, 

 beautifully-marked Frogs, which have been described from South Africa by Dr. A. Smith. One, 

 Delalande's Frog, is common everywhere, and especially near Cape Town. It is generally observed on 

 dry ground, but readily takes to water when alarmed or pursued. The other inhabits Kaffir Land and 

 Port Natal, and is about four inches and three-quarters long, and is called Rana oxyrkynchus. A 

 sprawling, long-legged, stupid Frog is Rana fasciata ; it has great toes and long legs, and is about one 

 inch and a half long. It is widely spread over South Africa, inhabits damp localities, leaps freely 

 and for considerable distances. 



One Frog is fished for, with fish-hooks baited with flesh, in Southern Africa, and it is common near 

 Cape Town. It is Rana fuscigula. 



The Frogs of the genus Pyxicephalus are found in South Africa and India. All have the fingers 

 quite free, the toes incompletely webbed, and the head thick, rounded, and swollen behind. The 

 vomerine teeth are in two oblique series, and the tongue is large, free, and deeply notched behind. The 

 metatarsus has a flat, sharp-edged shovel-like prominence. One species is found in Hindostan and in 

 the Himalayas, and with the aid of its shovel-like metatarsal it burrows in the ground to a depth of 

 one foot and a half. 



One of these is called the Bull Frog, in South Africa, from the strength and hoarseness of the 

 sounds it emits, particularly during the night. It lives generally in water, and is only seen in it 

 * Rana kuhlii. t Rana tiyrina. Rana esculenta. 



