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Show 1880.] ON THE PALAEARCTIC AND .ETHIOPIAN TOADS. 545 lized fishes the ' Dipnoi' (Lepidosiren and Ceratodus), becoming greatly modified, cut up into separate parts, with most diverse modifications and uses. "Indeed the loss of the gills and the full development of the lungs in these forms is correlated with many other excellencies and accomplishments in these creatures, which make them the forerunners and prophets of the still more excellent types that rise, group above group, in the ascending scale of the Vertebrata " I know full well that the tailless Amphibia form a nobler group than this, with richer endowments and clearer prophecies ; but they spring from another root-stock, and look upwards towards another culmination. " In these, the Anura, we have, so to speak, the ' primse linese' of the Mammalia; we see the ' members' of the Sauropsida written in legible characters in the unfolding scroll of the ' Urodeles.' " In conclusion, I have to thank Dr. Sclater and the President for much of the invaluable materials for this paper, aud to express a hope that the Members of the Society will not be slow to receive and put value upon any honest work that explains the morphological meaning of this or that type, or group of types, of the Vertebrata." The following papers were read :- 1. On the Palaearctic and ^Ethiopian Species of Bufo. By G, A. B O U L E N G E R , Aide-Naturaliste at the Ptoyal M u s e um of Belgium. (Communicated by Dr. A. G U N T H E R .) [Eeceived August 3, 1880.] (Plates L.-LII.) The present monograph I had undertaken a year ago in collaboration with m y friend M . Lataste of Paris, who, after having worked at it during several months, has given it up, being obliged to attend to other studies. He had collected a good deal of information, and he has been so kind as to give me the free use of all his notes concerning this subject. The African species of the genus Bufo have been but little studied, and their synonymy is in a state of great disorder; species which are evidently identical have been separated, whilst others quite distinct have been united. This is the reason that induced M. Lataste and myself to undertake this study. But as the species of the ^Ethiopian and Palaearctic regions are very closely allied, we thought it necessary to extend our investigations to both regions-especially as the variations that some of the Palaearctic species undergo have not yet been noticed by authors, and as, at present, even in the most important collections, these species are not always properly distinguished. |
