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Show 548 M. G. A. BOULENGER ON THE [Nov. 16, Dimensions. From snout to vent Length of bead Breadth of head From eye to nostril From eye to tip of snout.. Greatest diameter of orbit Interorbital space Diameter of tympanum .. Length of parotoid Breadth of parotoid Body Fore limb Hind limb Tibia a. m. 0-074 0019 0023 0*004 0010 0-007 00045 0003 0012 0007 0055 0 046 0-086 0023 b. m. 0-080 0-018 0024 0-0045 0010 0007 0-005 0003 0013 0008 0062 0043 0074 0020 c. m. 0048 0013 0017 0003 0-007 0-0055 00035 00015 00085 0005 0035 0026 0048 0014 d. m. 0044 0014 0017 0003 0007 00055 00035 0-007 00055 0030 0027 0047 0014 a. <$. Brussels. Brussels Museum. b. 5 . Geneva. Brussels Museum. c. Young 2 • Geneva. Brussels Museum. d. Young S without vertebral line or any trace of tarsal fold. Ciudad Real. M. Lataste's collection. Description.-Bufo calamita is a short-limbed species, the physiognomy and habits of which are so peculiar that no one, I think, will any longer unite it with B. viridis, as was done forty years ago by the authors of the ' Erpetologie Generale.' However, the characters which are generally given for distinguishing the two species are not so constant as was thought until now, and, though sufficient in many cases, cannot always be relied upon. One of these characters is the presence in B. calamita and the absence in B. viridis of a yellow vertebral line ; and we shall see further on that this line is sometimes absent in the former and often very distinct in the latter. Another character, which has been considered the most important, is the presence in B. calamita and the absence in B. viridis of a large parotoidiform gland on the upper side of the calf. Again, this becomes of no value if we consider a large series of these toads. I have seen many individuals of B. viridis from North Africa and especially from Asia, which possess the gland more or less developed, sometimes even more than is generally the case in B. calamita. It is on such a specimen from Algiers that M . Lataste established a new species, which he named after me, B. boulengeri, but which cannot be considered different from B. viridis, as M. Lataste himself acknowledges now that he has seen numbers of these toads during a journey in Algiers. The shorter limbs of B. calamita will always, in adult specimens, be sufficient to distinguish it from B. viridis. Another character, which I have found to be quite constant in this species, is the disposition of the subarticular tubercles under the toes, most of which are in two rows ; this character, which seems to have been discovered by Prof. Leydig, will immediately distinguish B. calamita not only |