1882.] 91 [Hinckley. 



of gold on head and body. They begin at the end of the muzzle 

 and enclose on each side the nostril-opening and eye by two lines, 

 one above and one below these organs. At a point about midway 

 between them the lines are compressed ; behind the eye the lower 

 lines continues upward and meets that above it. A short line 

 starts from that below the eye and continues to a point behind 

 it. Still a third line mingles itself with that directly below the 

 eye. Behind the eye, on each side, the marking is difficult to 

 follow, but soon two distinct lines are traceable, the upper con- 

 tinuing backward and sweeping upward to the upper surface 

 of the tail and for a short distance on the side ; the lower 

 one continuing along the body and for about one-third the 

 length of the tail midway its side. Besides these lines are others 

 on the sides and back which are not constant in presence or form. 

 A tadpole of R. sylvaticanow before me has, in addition to the lines 

 described above, a sinuous line on each side running down on the 

 abdomen, and another which crosses the widest portion of the 

 body, then doubles back part of its length to continue half way 

 down the tail, forming in its passage two loops across the upper 

 surface of that member. Glandulous lines occur in the tadpoles 

 of all the Ranae found here. Mr. Fernand Lataste (Etude sur le 

 Discoglossus pictus ; Actes de la Soc. Linneenne de Bordeaux. 

 1879, Tom. xxxiii, (Quatrieme serie; T. hi,) p. 309) describes 

 these lines as " Organes cutanes, de nature glandulaire et nerveuse, 

 sans doute des organes que les auteurs d'outre-Rhin decrivent 

 comme des organes d'un sixieme sens, analogues des organes de 

 la ligne laterale des poissons." In the paper cited, M. Lataste 

 also speaks of these glandulous lines as " un caractere important 

 de la famille Pelobatidae." 



May 10. Golden dotting on tadpoles shows a reddish tinge 

 like burnished copper. As many as can, are collected about and 

 feeding on the larvae of R. palustris just escaped from the outer 

 membranous shell. The gelatinous portion of the eggs soon 

 loses its consistency with this species, and the tadpoles drop out 

 by a slight pressure. 



May 15. Observed to-day a network of minute black lines on 

 the surface of the skin, dulling its brilliancy. Many tadpoles 

 have the tail more or less mutilated, probably in escaping from 

 the grasp of the larvae of the water beetles. One had lost almost 



