124 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII, 



to Dr. Annanclale these suspicious looking larvce aud other material, 

 and at present I am not in a position to say anything regarding the larvse 

 he describes under N. pygmeus {u). 



The eggs of R. leptodactyla are large, measuring with the gelatinous outer 

 coat 4fmm. and are laid in small clumps at several places along the grassy 

 margins of the ponds. The sexual embrace is axial. The total number of 

 eggs included in any one batch does not usually exceed thirty, and the 

 batches of eggs deposited by any one frog in the different parts of the 

 same pond may vary from six to eight. The localities for spawning are 

 most arbitrarily selected and have no reference to protection or develop- 

 ment being ensured. The debris that usually collects round the margins of 

 ponds fed by storm- water confers, however, some measure of protection. 

 The gelatinous outer envelope of the eggs which swells out into a large 

 spherical mass in the water, shrinks in the preserving fluid. The two poles of 

 the eggs are not distinguished by any colour. 



The tadpoles are of moderate size, oval, rather flattened above (elevated 

 in the young). The ventral surface is convex. The snout is obtusely 

 pointed. The nostrils are widely separated, nearer to tip of snout than to 

 eyes. The inter nasal space is only half the inter orbital width. The 

 eyes are dorsal and directed upwards in the young, but outwards in the 

 older forms. Eye nearer to the snout than to spiracle. The spiracle is 

 lateral, not visible from above, sinistral, tubular, pointing backwards and 

 upwards. It is nearer to the root of hind leg than to tip of snout. A 

 frontal gland is present. The mouth disk is moderate, ventral in position. 

 Lips opposible, the lower fringed with a double row of fingers-like processes, 

 which extend on the emarginate sides. The upper beak is broadly 

 semilunar, produced more or less in the middle into a blunt tooth-like 

 process. The lower beak is V-shaped and the margins of both the beaks 

 are entire. The dental formula is 1 : 2 -(- 2/1 : 2 or 3. The upper entire 

 tooth row is the longest and the other two are broadly interrupted. The 

 innermost lower series is either narrowly broken or entire and all the 

 three series are equally long. The vent is dextral, tubular. The tail is long, 

 pointed at the tip. The muscular part at the middle of tail is as deep as tho 

 membranes, — these are poorly marked in front but are deep and convex 

 behind. The dorsal surface of head and body is olive green or brown, mora 

 or less speckled. The ventral surface whitish, immaculate. The tail is 

 spotted throughout. 



Measurements of a specimen in which the hind limbs are fully grown : — 

 Total length . . . . . . . . 43mm. 



18mm. 

 11 l/2mm. 

 10mm. 



7mm. 



Length of head and body 



Greatest breadth of body 



Greatest depth of body. . 



Greatest debth of tail . . 

 The eggs and specimens of tadpoles were obtained at Watekolle, Coorg, in 

 December 1918 and were taken also in Shimoga, Mysore State. Twelve 

 hours after the deposition of the eggs, the young one aro found wriggling in 

 their gelatinous envelopes, which gradually spread out into a continuous 

 film over the water. This viscous mass becomes completely dissolved, before 

 the final emergence of the larvse takes place. Buds of hind limbs sprout 

 nearly a fortnight later, which is certainly a remarkably short period for- 

 the Ranid larvae in general and the rapidity in the present case is correlated 

 with the fact that metamorphosis has to be completed before the element in 

 which the larvae live should dry up. 



The eggs and the tadpoles are in the Indian Museum. 



(u) 1918, Op. cit., p. 21. 



