( 211 ) 



ON THE HERPETOLOGY OF THE GRAND DUCHY 



OF BADEN. 



By G. Nokman Douglass. 



(Continued from p. 19.) 



III. Fam. Pelobatid^e. 



P.fuscus, Laur. — A comparatively rare batrachian, of noc- 

 turnal and secluded habits. I have never had the fortune to 

 come across it during its sojourn in the water, or to discover the 

 large larvae in any of the ponds annually visited. 



The sole locality as yet cited for its occurrence in the Grand 

 Duchy is Mannheim (Nusslin). 



The absence of this species in Switzerland may account for 

 the fact that it has not been observed in the southern parts of 

 the Duchy, but as it has been found at various points of the 

 east, north, and west of Baden, sometimes not far from the 

 frontier, it will probably turn up eventually in the northern or 

 north-eastern districts. 



IV. Fam. Hylid.e. 



H. arborea, L. — This species is not rare along the Ehine, 

 though more frequently heard than seen. Near Karlsruhe there 

 is only a limited, always decreasing, number of localities con- 

 venient for hybernating and depositing the spawn, and since a 

 favourite piece of marshy ground, at the N.W. extremity of the 

 "Exercierplatz" has been drained, the numbers of this frog 

 have suffered a perceptible decrease. In the course of four 

 summers I have only come across some four to six specimens — 

 a very poor average in comparison with most parts of Germany. 

 Round the shores of Lake Constance it is commoner, and also, 

 I believe, in the south-western portions of the Grand Duchy. 

 It prefers the level country to the hills, and is not found at 

 anything like the elevation at which it occurs in the Tyrol and 

 Switzerland (3000-4000 ft.). 



The action of the chromatophores is very rapid with this 

 batrachian, and experiments have proved the remarkable suscepti- 

 bility of the eye to colour, enabling it to assume a protective 

 resemblance in brief time. Thus it becomes brown on the 

 ground, mottled on trunks of trees, &c. 



