170 MJa. G. A. BOtJLENGEE OIT EEPTILES [Feb. 21, 



smaller than those of the fingers ; subarticular and inner meta- 

 tarsal tubercles moderate, flat. The tibio-tarsal articulation 

 reaches the eye ; tibia not half length of head and body. 

 Skin of upper parts more or less granular, the granules very 

 feeble, though distinct, in the type specimen, most developed in 

 one of the males from Kuatun ; belly and lower surface of thighs 

 coarsely granular ; throat smooth or feebly granular ; a dermal 

 ridge above the tympanum ; no folds along the limbs. 



Mr. Blanford was informed by Dr. Dennys that the type 

 specimen, a female, vas of a beautiful emerald-gi-een colour when 

 alive. It was, in spirit, dark violet, almost slaty above, with a 

 brown spot behind the occiput, dirty white below, mottled with 

 dusky. It is now nearly completely bleached, traces of the violet 

 colour being only discernible on the parts protected from the 

 Ught by the folding of the limbs. The Foochow specimen, a 

 female, is dark violet above, with four irregularly disposed rusty 

 spots edged with whitish on the head and scapular region ; a few 

 similar spots on the fore limbs ; a pale golden lumbar spot, and 

 streaks of the samp tint and edged with brown across the anal 

 region and along the outer edges of the forearm and the hand 

 and of the tarsus and foot ; white beneath, the lower jaw broadly 

 edged with violet. The three specimens from Kuatun, all males, 

 with internal voc;il sac, have retained a dark green coloration ; one 

 of them has the red spots on the head of the Foochow specimen ; 

 all three have a lateral series of irregular, white, black-edged spots, 

 extending from the shoulder to the groin. 



9. BxJFO vuLGAEis Laur. 



The examination of the 32 specimens brought home by 

 Mr. La Touche (males up to 110 milHm. from snout to vent, 

 females up to 122) confirms the opinion I have previously 

 expressed as to the irapossibihty of defining with anything like 

 precision the Eastern form of our Common Toad even as a variety 

 or subspecies. In some of the specimens the tympanum is almost 

 hidden, in others it is very distinct and its diameter, as compared 

 with that of the eye, varies between one half and three fourths. 

 The toes are only half or barely' two-thirds webbed, even in males 

 with the nuptial excrescences, and the fourth toe is generally a 

 little longer in proportion than in European specimens. A black 

 lateral band is usually well marked, as in Japanese specimens, and 

 the ventral marbling is usually very striking, although varying 

 in extent and intensity. Some of the specimens have a yellow 

 vertebral line, as well marked as in Bufo calamita. 



In describing Chinese specimens under the name of Bufo 

 vulffaris japonicus, in 1880, M. Lataste has pointed out a difference 

 in the shape of the testis in the breeding male. This is described 

 as being shaped like a long cylinder attenuate in front, its width 7 

 or 8 times in its length, and occupying the whole length of the 

 abdominal cavity, whilst in the European specimens the organ is 

 oval, elongate, depressed, its width usually twice and a half in its 



