154 



DISOOGLOSSID^. 



be uniform black, or grey spotted with blaok. In 

 these peninsular specimens, which strongly contrast 

 with those from north of the Po, the yellow of the 

 under surface of the arm does not extend across the 

 breast as usual in the individuals from North Italy, 

 Austria-Hungary, and Germany (var. brevipes), and 

 as shown by the example from Schemnitz, Hungary, 

 figured on PI. VI, fig. 5; but the breast is either 

 uniform blue, grey, or blackish, or bears a pair of 

 isolated spots as in B. igneus. In France, Belgium, 

 and Switzerland we find individuals bridging over the 

 two forms. Specimens, eight in number, obtained by 

 M. Lataste at Boulay-les-Trous, near Paris, are very 

 interesting in this respect. In all the plantar spot is 

 completely separated from the tarsal, which may be 

 large or broken up and reduced to a few marblings ; 

 in some the spots on the breast are completely 

 detached from those of the fore limbs, and the inner 

 digits of both hand and foot are not completely 

 involved in the palmar or plantar spot. Detached 

 spots on the breast and tarsus also occur in Belgian 

 examples. In 25 from near Dinant I count 16 with 

 the plantar spot separated from the tarsal on both 

 sides, 3 with the two confluent, and 6 in which tbe 

 right side belongs to the one, and the left to the other 

 of the two categories. In 25 from Mondorf, Luxem- 

 burg, 7 belong to the first category, 12 to the second, 

 and 6 to either. A specimen from Goslar, Harz, has 

 also the plantar and tarsal spots disconnected. 



Some of the principal variations observed in the 

 markings of the lower parts are represented on PI. VI. 



Iris more uniformly bronzy than in the preceding 

 species, with the golden edge to the pupil finer, less 

 distinct ; pupil roundish, with lower angle triangular, 

 or, more frequently, cordiform, Y-shaped when fully 

 contracted. 



Very young specimens bluish-white or greyish 

 beneath, with black spots and large yellow blotches 

 on the limbs {Bufo salsus, Schrank). In the second 



