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Show 200 DR. J. ANDERSON ON INDIAN REPTILES. [Feb. 21, RANA GRACILIS, Wiegm.; Gthr. /. c. p. 409. This species appears to be widely distributed from Central India through Bengal, Assam, Arakan, Burmah, and Tenasserim, as far south as Penang. I have not seen any specimens from the Nicobars or Andamans, as the Frogs from these localities referred by Dr. Stoliczka to this species appear to be quite distinct. Dr. Stoliczka mentions that it does not hesitate to take to the sea or brackish water, and that it is a true littoral species, overlooking, however, the fact that it is widely distributed over Central India, Bengal, and Burmah, far removed from the sea. The probability is that he had the Andaman and Nicobar species in view when he made the foregoing generalization, and not true R. gracilis. RANA CYANOPHLYCTIS, Schneid. This species is very common in the Nagpur district, Central India, and it occurs also in Orissa and in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, but is less numerous in the Malayan peninsula, according to Gunther. PYXICEPHALUS BREVICEPS, Schneid. ; Gthr. I. c.p. 411. Pyxicephalus fodiens, Jerdon, As. Soc. Journ. xxii. p. 534. This handsome species, of which I have received twenty-one specimens from Agra, where it appears to be common, has been found hitherto only in the Carnatic. In four the marbling of the back is confluent over the mesial line of the back as a vertebral black line, connected, however, with the reticulations. In others there is a tendency in the lateral reticulations to form a black lateral band from behind the eye. Out of twenty-one specimens, only nine show the white vertebral line. The black spots on the back are not, as a rule, so distinct as in Giinther's figure, nor have they the white border ; and in some they almost disappear, while in others they are converted into rings, enclosing a pale centre of the same colour as the general surface of the body. In the specimens with no trace of a vertebral line the spots are all but obsolete. Dr. Jerdon's P. fodiens is simply P. breviceps without a pale vertebral line. XENOPHRYS MONTICOLA, Gthr. I. c. p. 414. Xenophrys gigas, Jerdon, Proc. As. Soc. Bengal, 1870, p. 85. I have received seven specimens of this beautiful Frog from Darjeeling ; and have removed another uninjured specimen from the stomach of an example of Tropidonotus macrophthalmus. The largest specimen measures 2" 8'" in length, the hind limb 4" 1'" ; the smallest is 1" 5'" long, and its hind limb 2" 4'". There are two varieties of coloration, the one a light and the other a dark brown. They agree in every particular with Giinther's description ; so that I shall merely indicate one or two points which appear to be characteristic of the species, and which Gunther could not have been expected to notice |
