140 DISCOGLOSSID^. 



advanced tadpoles may be marked with a light, dark- 

 edged vertebral stripe, whilst this is absent in other 

 specimens out of the same brood. The whole body and 

 tail with a network of fine brown lines forming polygonal 

 meshes ; this network most easily traceableon the tail. 



Total length, 83 mm.; body, 12 mm.; width of body, 

 7 mm. ; tail, 21 mm. ; depth of tail, 6 mm. 



Habitat. — Discoglossus pictus inhabits South-western 

 Europe and North-west Africa. It is found nearly all 

 over Central, Western, and Southern Spain and 

 Portugal, but appears to be absent from the east coast 

 as well as from the Balearic Islands, a fact which is the 

 more surprising since the species is again abundant in 

 Corsica, Giglio, Montecristo, Sardinia, Sicily and small 

 neighbouring islands, Malta and Gozo. In Africa its 

 habitat extends all over Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia 

 north of the Sahara ; also on Galita Island, oft' the 

 coast of Tunisia. It inhabits the coasts and plains as 

 well as the hills, having been found by Bedriaga in 

 Corsica from sea level to an altitude of 2460 feet. 



The occurrence of Discoglossus in Santa Maura, 

 Ionian Islands, whence a single specimen is stated by 

 De Betta to have been obtained by the late A. Ninni 

 in 1863, has not been confirmed by moi^e recent ex- 

 plorers of those islands, and Bedriaga informs us that 

 the specimens put up under that name in the Athens 

 Museum belong to Bana esculenta. 



A few years ago the late Heron-Royer introduced 

 the species into France near Amboise, in Touraine, 

 where it appears to have become perfectly acclimatised. 

 Several thousands of young specimens have also been 

 turned loose in the neighbourhood of Argenton, dep. 

 Indre, by M. RoUinat in 1892 and 1893. 



PL IV shows specimens from Oran, for which I am 

 indebted to the kindness of Messrs. E. Chevreux and 

 Doumergue. The right-hand figure represents a full- 

 grown male in nuptial costume ; the two others repre- 

 sent females of the spotted and striped forms. 



