AND BATEACHIAJS'S OP THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. 47 



BATRAOHIA. 

 ECAUDATA. 



FIRMISTERNIA. 

 RANID.E. 



Rana, lAnn. 



1. Rana bufoniformis. (Plate VIII.) 

 Rana bufoniformis, Bouleng. Proc. Zool. Soc. ISS-t, p. 210. 



The vomerine teeth form two short oblique series entirely behind the level of the 

 choanae ; they do not extend outwards beyond the latter, and the space between the 

 two series equals the length of one of them. The lower jaw shows no tooth-like pro- 

 cesses. The Eustachian tubes are larger than the choanae. 



The head is very large, its length being contained only once and three fifths in the 

 length of the vertebral column ; the length of the nine anterior vertebrae equals the 

 distance from the nostril to the tympanum ; the width of the head is greater than its 

 length, and is contained once and one third in the leni^th of the vertebral column ; the 

 contour of the head is a semioval. The snout is short and rounded, its length equalling 

 the diameter of the orbit; the upper lip projects but slightly beyond the lower, and 

 the profile of the snout forms a pretty regular curve ; the nostril is a little nearer the 

 end of the snout than the orbit : the loreal region is very oblique and conca\'e, and the 

 canthus rostralis is distinct though obtuse, and straight. The eye is very large and 

 perfectly lateral ; the interorbital space is plane, and its width equals that of the upper 

 eyelid. The tympanum is perfectly distinct; its vertical diameter, which is little 

 greater than its horizontal, equals one third the horizontal diameter of the eye, and is 

 a little less than the distance which separates it from tlie orbit. 



The fore limb, stretched backwards, reaches as far as the \ent. The fingers are 

 short and thick, with obtuse, slightly swollen tips, and with large round subarticular 

 tubercles ; the inner finger is nearly as long as the third, and considerably longer than 

 the second, which is a little shorter than the fourth ; there are three oval metacarpal 

 tubercles, the inner of which is the largest and the most distinct. The hind limb is 

 short ; if stretched forwards along the body, the tibio-tarsal articulation reaches the 

 hinder border of the eye ; the length of the tibia equals the length of the head. The 

 toes are short, two thirds webbed, with the tips dilated into regular disks, which are, 

 however, relatively not much larger than in Rana kuhlii ; the web reaches the penul- 

 timate phalanx on the inner side of the third toe and on both sides of the fourth, 

 otherwise attains the distal disks ; the subarticular tubercles are very large and oval 



