DISCOGLOSSIDAE 



IS5 



first two fingers. Total length from 1|- ti.i 2 inches, the males 

 being generally smaller than the females. This " Fire-bellied 

 toad," the " Unke " of the Germans, is essentially a native of 

 lakes, ponds, and other standing waters of the plains. 



It ranges through the whole of ISTorth Germany, Bohemia, 

 and Hnngary into Eussia, eastwards as far as the Volga. The 

 latter river, the Danube, and the Weser form, roughly speaking, 

 its boundaries ; northwards it extends into Denmark and the 

 southern extremity of Sweden. 



Fig. 31. — BomlinaUr igneus. x 1. Fire-bellied Toad. Two of tliem in 

 "warning" attitude. 



B. pmliypus. — The under parts are yellow instead of red. The 

 male is devoid of vocal sacs, but has nuptial excrescences on 

 the under surface of most of the toes, in addition to those 

 on the fore-arm and fingers. The " Yellow-bellied Toad " is the 

 representative of the red-bellied species in Southern and Western 

 Europe, preferring, although not exclusively, the hilly and 

 mountainous districts. It ranges from France and Belgium 

 through South-Western Germany, continental Italy, and the whole 

 of Austria and Turkey in Europe. Where both species meet, for 

 instance in the hilly districts between the Weser and the Rhine, 

 in Thuringia and in Austria, the predilection of the yellow-bellied 



