422 



ON THE TYPE-SPECIMEN OF RANA IIOLSTI. 



tiie part of Mr. Noble is clifHcult to account for, as his idea of 

 the type-specimen was apparently derived from Dr. Stejneger *, 

 who says : "I have had the privilege of examining the unique 

 type-specimen, but I have nothing to add to Boulenger's ori- 

 ginal description " ; a most accurate figure of the left hand is 

 given by him. 



It was therefore quite a reasonable suggestion to make, even 

 if now proved to be incorrect, that the dagger is a secondary 

 sexual character of the male as the " aiguillons corr^es et caducs 

 qui arment le doigt interne de certains Leptodactylus d'Amerique 

 et qui servent a renforcer I'amplexus pendant I'accouplement " t. 

 In Tympanoceros neictoni Bocage, for another instance, the male 

 is armed with a powerful, protruding dagger on the inner side of 

 the first finger, whilst the female has none whatever. This 

 point, however, is set at rest by Mi'. Van Denburg, who says 

 " the dagger is fully developed in adults of both sexes. Our 

 collection includes females which contain eggs nearlj^ ready for 

 laying. 1'hese \_slc] are armed with spui-s as large and formidable 

 as are to be foinid in males. ' This shows, therefore, that the 

 "dagger" may, or may not, protrude externally in R. holsti, 

 unless, which is unlikely, the females described by Van Denburg 

 and Noble belong to a distinct, closely allied species. 



^ ITerp. Jap.. 15nll. U.S. Nat. Hist. Mus. No. 58, 1907, p. 105, fig. 84. 

 t IJoulciigir, C. K. Ac 8ci. 1918, vol. clxv. pi). 987-999. 



