OCR Text |
Show 1871.] DR. J. ANDERSON ON INDIAN REPTILES. 207 H e describes the colour above as olive greenish, much darker and almost black in some male specimens; upper glandular folds pale; upper hp whitish; lower glandular tubercles usually pure white ; sides of body, including the loreal region, black, which uniform colour, however, fades on the posterior part of the bodv, and is sometimes replaced there by a few dark spots ; lower parts more or jess mottled with black, sometimes almost wholly black in the males, Ont yellowish between the thighs ; in the females the lower parts are whitish, either uniform or only slightly dusky ; fore limbs with tew indistinct cross bands ; a dark streak in front of the upper arm, and another one behind, as well as on the lower arm ; hind limbs above banded with brown, behind indistinctly mottled with dark and yellow. Dr. Stoliczka was at first inclined to regard this species as a variety ot U. tytleri (1 erythreea), from which he now considers it to be distinguished by its " larger tympanum, the usual total want of the short downward bent lower glandular fold, the better-developed disks ot the fingers and toes, the greater length of the third finger, the presence of two almost subequal metatarsal tubercles, its distinctly larger gape, and more distant vomerine ridges." Hab. Nicobar Islands. POLYPEDATES MACULATUS, Gray; Gthr. 1. c. p. 428. The Darjeeling specimens of this Frog now before m e are all more or less distincty spotted on different shades of grey. The largest is pale, almost cream-colour, with very indistinct spots, and no trace of a band between the eyes, and without an hourglass-marking. The brown band along the canthus rostralis and over the tympanum, however, is very distinct. The other two specimens are dark slaty, with indications of the hourglass-marking on the anterior part of the back; and in both the transverse band between the eyes faintly shows. This is not an uncommon species about an elevation of 3000 feet in Sikkim, and is chiefly found among long grass, and not, as its name (Tree-Frog) would lead us to expect, on trees. This is the case also with Rhachophorus maximus, which is found in similar situations, also in ponds and wells. It likewise possesses the power of changing its colours. POLYPEDATES QUADRILINEATUS, Wiegm. The dark bands are very narrow and not very distinct; and the black edging can hardly be said to exist. The bands also show a tendency to break up posteriorly, and over the sacrum they are reduced to small black spots. The black band from the snout and over the tympanum is prolonged along the side to almost halfway between the axilla and groin, but behind that it is reduced to widely distant black spots with white edges. The general colour is a pale olive-grey ; the bars on the legs and the marbling on the back of the thighs are well marked, especially the latter. A dark band edged anteriorly with white runs along the back of the forearm to the little finger ; the under surface of the lower jaw is finely |