566 M. G. A. BOULENGER ON THE [NoV. 16, 



shorter and thinner in females. The fingers are short and rather 

 pointed ; the third is the longest ; the fourth is somewhat shorter 

 than the second; placed against each other, the first and second 

 appear equally long ; the subarticular tubercles are either simple, 

 with a tendency to bipartition, or double. A large flat rounded 

 tubercle occupies the middle of the hand, and a smaller oval one the 

 base of the thumb. 



The hind limb is short ; being carried forwards along the body, 

 the metatarsal tubercles reach the posterior corner of the eye in the 

 males, hardly the tympanum in females. The calf is not much 

 longer than the head, and destitute of a large gland. The cutaneous 

 fold along the tarsus is, as above stated, either entirely absent or 

 more or less developed, as well in adult as in young. Smith has 

 given as a character of his JB. gariepensis the absence of the tarsal 

 fold ; but of the two specimens which he has given to the British 

 Museum, one exhibits it very distinctly. The large metatarsal 

 tubercles are like those of 5. calamita. The toes are short, depressed, 

 webbed at the base in females, not much more in males. Of the 

 sixteen specimens examined, four have the subarticular tubercles 

 two-rowed, the others have them simple. 



The warts of the upper surfaces are like those of B. calamita ; the 

 lower surfaces are smooth, except on the sides, on the lower belly, 

 and under the thighs, where they are granular. 



The upper surfaces are greyish or olive, with irregular brown or 

 dark olive spots or marblings, which are confluent into transversal 

 bars upon the limbs. A yellowish vertebral line, rarely absent, 

 extends from the level of the nostrils to the vent. The lower 

 surfaces are whitish, unspotted, or blackish-spotted in some males 

 and young. 



Males are furnished with a little-developed subgular vocal vesicle, 

 the inner opening of which is double. Blackish rugosities cover the 

 inner side of the first three fingers during the breeding-season. 



Geographical Distribution. — B.angusticeps inhabits South Africa, 

 where it seems to be rather abundant. 



Historic. — The present species has been described and very well 

 figured by Smith, in his 'Illustrations of the Zoology of South 

 Africa,' the adult as B. angusticeps, the young as B. gariepensis. 

 I have convinced myself, by the examination of Smith's typical 

 specimens in the British Museum, that the two forms must be united, 

 the difference in the shape and size of the parotoids (which is the 

 single difference of some importance between the two forms) being 

 in other species subject to such great variation that it cannot be 

 considered of specific value. The specimens upon which B. garie- 

 pensis is founded are, besides, not adult. 



This species is quite distinct from all other African Toads, though 

 it is considered by most authors to be referable to a young state of 

 " B. pantherinus." 



