548 



M. G. A. BOtTLENGER ON THE 



Dime?)sions. 



[Nov. 16, 



From snout to vent 



Lengtli of head 



Breadth of head 



From eye to nostril 



From eye to tip of snout. . 

 Greatest diameter of orbit 



Interorbital space 



Diameter of tympanum .. 



Length of parotoid 



Breadth of parotoid 



Body 



Fore limb 



Hind limb 



Tibia 



a. c? . Brussels. Brussels Museum. 



b. 2 . Geneva. Brussels Museum, 



c. Young 2 • Geneva. Brussels Museum. 



d. Young S without vertebral line or any trace of tarsal fold. 

 Ciudad Real. M. Lataste's collection. 



Description.— Bu/o culamita is a short-limbed species, the phy- 

 siognomy and habits of which are so peculiar that no one, I think, 

 will an-v longer unite it with B. viridis, as was done forty years 

 ago by the authors of the ' Erpetologie Geuerale.' However, the 

 characters which are generally given for distinguishing the two 

 species are not so constant as was thought until now, and, though 

 sufficient in many cases, cannot always be relied upon. One of these 

 characters is the presence iu B. calamita and the absence in B. viridis 

 of a yellow vertebral line ; and we shall see further on that this line is 

 sometimes absent in the former and often very distinct in the latter. 

 Another character, which has been considered the most impor- 

 tant, is the presence in B. calamita and the absence in B. viridis of a 

 large parotoidiform gland on the upper side of the calf. Again, this 

 becomes of no value if we consider a large series of these toads. I 

 have seen many individuals of B. viridis from North Africa and 

 especially from Asia, which possess the gland more or less developed, 

 sometimes even more than is generally the case in B. calamita. 

 It is on such a specimen from Algiers that M. Lataste established 

 a new species, which he named after me, S. boulengeri, but which 

 cannot be considered different from B. viridis, as M. Lataste 

 himself acknowledges now that he has seen numbers of these toads 

 during a journey in Algiers. 



The shorter limbs of B. calamita will always, in adult specimens, 

 be sufficient to distinguish it from B. viridis. Another character, 

 which I have found to be quite constant in this species, is the dispo- 

 sition of the subarticular tubercles under the toes, most of which are 

 in two rows ; this character, which seems to have been discovered 

 by Prof. Leydig, will immediately distinguish B. calamita not only 



