1889.] OF THE GENUS RHACOPHORUS. 29 



I am nevertheless satisfied that both Blyth and Peters were cor- 

 rect in disunguishins; two species in Ceylon, as were likewise the 

 authors of the ' Erpetolojiie generale' in distinguishing the Indian 

 (Bengal, Pondichery, Malabar) from the Malayan (Java, Philippines) 

 tbrin, although they made the mistake of a[)piying to the former the 

 name leucomystax, which belongs to the latter, their P. rugosus. 



The comparison of fidly adult skulls shows very great differences 

 betv^elMl the extreme types; and tiiese differences corresponding with 

 certain external characters, though of a very trivial nature, and with 

 the habitats, it is difficult not to admit that they deserve recognition 

 ill the system. But if a large series of examples be examined, the 

 gaps bet'.veen the various forms are nearly completely bridged over,, 

 as may be seen from tlie figures (p. 28), which at the same time 

 afford an excellent exan.ple of derivation of characters and speak 

 cleaily against the systematic value of certain cranial structures to 

 which Cope &till attaches undue importance'. 



However, I think it best to distinguish as species the three fol- 

 lowing forms, and I will proceed to give their ciiaracters, synonymy, 

 and distriljution. 



Rbacophorus leucomystax. 



Hyla leucomystax, Gravenh. Delic. Mns. Yralisl. p. 2(5 (1829). 



Byla sexvirguta, Gra\enh. I. c. p. 28. 



Hyla quadrilineatu, "Wiegm. N. Acta Ac. Leop.-Carol. xvii. i. 

 p. 260, pi. xxii. fi;z. 1 (18.35). 



Polypr^daten leucomystax, 'IVchudi, Class. Batr. p. 75 (1838); 

 Cantor, Cat. M;d. Kepi. p. 142 (1847). 



Polypedutes iiiijdsii.s, Dum. & Bilir. viii. |). .';20 (1841). 



Polypedates 7nufiilalus, part., Giinlh. Cat. Batr. p. 78(1858), 

 and Kept. Brit. Iiid. p. 428 (1864); Stoliczka, Proc. As. Soc. 

 Beng. 1872, p. lUb. 



Polypedmea qaadrUineatus, Giinth. //. cc. pp. 79 & 429 ; Anders. 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p- 207. 



Polypedates maculotua, Anders. /. c. 



Polypedates meyacepknlus, Hallow. Proc. Ac. Philad. 1800, p. 507. 



Iihuco^)honis macniutus, j)art., Bonleng. Cat. Batr. p. 8;-5 (1882). 



Uyloiana longipes, Fischer, Arch f. Nat. li. p. 47 (1885). 



The largist specimen (from Siam) in tie Collection meajures 

 81 millim. from snout to vent. 



No coiniection between tlie fronto-parietals and the squamosals. 

 In the Himalayan specimens examined (six from Darjeeliug and one 



1 Prof. Cope, in a notice of the Britiab Museum Catalogue of Batrachiaus 

 ((■/". Am. Nat. 1883, p. 181), expresses the hope that, if another edition of the 

 work is called for, the author will modify it by the adoptiou of the genera charac- 

 terized by the degree of ossifjcation of the cranial bones, which would divide 

 Hijla into four genera, viz. Hyla, Sci/fupis, Ostmcephahis, and Trachyccplialus. 

 If these princijjles were applied to the Uhacophori, we should have at least, three 

 genera in the mactdatu^-gTOwp ; just a^, on account of the presence of a fronto- 

 parietal fontanelle. Biifo calamita is placed by Cope iu a distinct genus away 

 from IJ vliidis. Tn I'act. he has recently ('Origin of the Fittest,' p. 82) proposed 

 to restrict the genus Polypedates to the species with rugose skull. 



