BUFO PENTONI. 
been laid bare, Prof. Flinders Petrie, amongst a multiplicity of objects, found an 
earthenware figure in blue glaze, evidently intended to represent this toad, and I am 
indebted to him for permission to figure it (fig. 13, p. 356). 
Bufo pentoni, Anderson. (Plate L. fig. 4.) 
Bvfo pentoni, Anderson, Ann. & Mag. N. H. (6) xii. 1893, p. 440; Proc. Zool. Soc. 1895, p. 6G2 ; 
Herpet. Arabia & Egypt, 1896, p. 111. 
2d and 1 ? . Sbaata Gardens, Suakin. Surgeon-Captain R. H. Penton, D.S.O. 
17 5,1c?, and 1 juv. Sliaata Gardens, Suakin. 
Snout very short and broad; nostrils close to the end of the snout; interorbital space 
flat or slightly concave from side to side, equalling the breadth of the upper eyelid ; 
tympanum about half the size of the eye, more or less vertically oval, well defined ; 
parotoid large, oval, extending to or behind the vertical of the axilla. Males with a 
subgular vocal sac. First finger generally decidedly longer than the second ; toes two- 
thirds webbed, with small, simple, subtubercular tubercles ; two large, prominent, horny 
metatarsal tubercles and a conical well-developed tubercle close to the tarso-metatarsal 
joint ; a feeble tarsal fold ; under surface of toes and metatarsus nearly devoid of 
tubercles ; tarso-metatarsal joint when the limb is laid forwards reaches the tympanum. 
Skin covered with moderately-sized, somewhat flattened warts, each capped with a 
horny point varying greatly in its development and not unfrequently absent. 
General colour olive, tinged with yellowish, with obscure dark markings on the back 
and one across the upper eyelids ; the warty eminences behind the ear and on the 
sides of body bright yellow or reddish, the chin and lower lip rather bright yellow 
with an orange tinge. Under surface and the inner halves of the upper surfaces of 
the hands and feet milky white, the sternal region tinged with orange. 
<J . Snout to vent 70 mm., hind limb 75 mm. 
? • „ 75 „ „ 82 „ 
This species occurs abundantly around Suakin, especially in the Shaata Gardens, 
about one mile outside the town. In these gardens there are numerous, wide, deep 
wells lined with brickwork, and in them this toad is generally to be found. As they 
have to support themselves above water by clinging on to the brickwork their digits 
become ulcerated and the sores are attacked by some organism, the presence of which 
in some cases produces complete destruction of the digits. The toads fall into these 
wells, and in the majority of cases are unable to escape. In the open country diseased 
digits are not met with. 
It is a burrowing species, and in adults the skin on the front of the snout is more or 
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