OCR Text |
Show 82 REPTILIA. mare c1 o se 1y se t t u bercles on the belly; the hind feet .s emi-p. al- mate. I t rema·m s 1·n dark places ' and passes the wmter m a hole which it excavates. It cou pies in the water in March. and April; when this takes place on shore, th~ female drags herself d't h &c carrying the male w1th her: she produces to some 1 c , ·' · f · 1 · innumerable small ova, uuited by a transparent kmd ~ Je ly m two strings, that arc often twenty o~ thir:y f~et long, m the ex- tracti.O n of w h1' c h the male assists w1th h1s hmd feet. The. Tad- po1 e 1· s bl ac k'I S h , and is the smallest of the E•u rope• an spec1es, at the period when it acquires legs and loses 1ts tail. The Com-mon Toad lives upwards of fifteen years, and is adult at four. Its cry has some resemblance to the barking of a dog. . R. bufo calamita, Gm.; Rres. XXIV; Daud. XXVII, 1. Olive eolour; tubercles, as in the preceding; but not such larg~ swellings behind the ears; a yellow longitudinal line on the spme, ~nd a dentated reddish one on the flank: no membrane to the hmd feet. It diffuses a disagreeable odour, like that of gun-powder, lives on land, and never leaps, but runs tolerably fast. It also climbs up walls, to seek a shelter in their crevices, and for that purpose has two little osseous tubercles under the. palm of the hands. It never visits the water except to couple, m the month of June; the female lays two strings of eggs, like the Common Toad; the voice of the male, which has also a sac under the throat, resembles that of the Tree Frog. Bufo fuscus, Laurent.; Rana bombina, I'' Gm.; Rres.' XVII, XVIII. (The Natter Jack.) Light brown marbled w1th d~rk brown or blackish; tubercles on the back but few, and the siZe of lentils; the belly smooth; toes of the hind feet elongated, and completely palmate; it leaps well, prefers the vicinity of water, and diffuses a strong odour of garlic when disturbed. The ova form but one string, thicker however than both those of the Common Toad. The tadpole is longer in coming to maturity than any other French species; and, when very large, is still found with its tail, and the fore-feet, not developed-when it does comple~e its metamorphosis, it actually seems to shrink. It is eaten 1D svme places as if it were a fish. Ran. variabilis, Gm.; Crapaud vert, Lacep.; Pall. Spicil. VII, vi, 34; Daud. xxviii, 2. Almost smooth; whitish, with deep green spots; remarkable for the changes in the hue of the skin, accot·ding to the light in which it is placed, or as it wakes or sleeps. .. Bufo obstreticus, Laur.; Le Crap. accoucheur, Daud. pl. xx:x.u, f. 1. Small; grey above; whitish beneath; blackish points on the back, and whitish ones on the sides. The male assists his fe· BA TRACiliA. 83 male in the expulsion of the eggs, which are large, and fastens them on his thighs, in bundles, by means of some glutinous threads. He carries them about with him until the eyes of the tadpoles they contain can be distinguished through their envelope, and, in fact, until the time when they are about to be hatch· ed; he then seeks some stagnant water, in which he deposits them. The eggs immediately split, and the tadpoles swim out. It is very small, and is carnivorous. Very common in stony places near Paris.(l) Sicily produces a toad three or four times larger than those of France, that is brown, with flat and irregular tubercles. It is generally found in the tuft of a palm. We will call it Bufo palma rum. The Toads, foreign to Europe, have hitherto been badly deterr mined; several are remarkable for their size. Rana marina, Gm.; Le Crapaud agua; Daud. XXVII; Spix, XV. Brown, varied with dark brown; unequal and slightly salient tubercles; the triangular parotids more than an inch wide in individuals, which are from ten to twelve inches long, exclusive of the feet. Found in the- marshy districts of South America.( 2) Several subgenera have been lately separated from that of the Toads; thus the BoMBINATOR, Merr. Only differs frotn the others in the tympanum being concealed under the skin; such in France is the Rana bombina, Gm.; Crapaud a ventre jaune; Rres. XXII; Daud. XXVI. The smallest and most aquatic of all the Toads of that country. It is greyish or brown above; a black-blue with orange spots beneath; the hind feet completely palmate and almost as long as those of Frogs, so that it leaps nearly as well. It lives in marshes and couples in June; the eggs are produced in little balls, and are larger than those of the preceding species. The(3) (1) It is impossible to say why Merrem placed the obstetricus among his Bombinatores- its tympanum is very visible. (2) Add, Bufo maculiventris, Spix, XV, should it prove to differ from the agua;B. ictericus, ld. XVI, 1;-B. lazarus, ld. xvii, 1;-B. stellatus, Id. XVIII, 1;.....:.B. scaber, Daud., XXXIV, which is not the same as the B. scaber of Spix, X, 1;-B bengalemis, ld. xxxv, 1;-B. musicus, ld. XXXIII, 2;-B. cinctus, Pr. Max. fasc. 3: the B. agua, Jd. fasc. 7, does notappear to be the same as that of Spix. [Add B. americanus, L. C. .11m. Ed.] (3) Add Bufo ventricosus, Daud., XXX, 2, the turgidity of which is exaggel'ated. I \ |