| OCR Text |
Show 1880.] PALAEARCTIC AND ^ETHIOPIAN TOADS. 555 are intermediate. The parotoids exhibit astonishing variations; in all the European and African specimens I have seen, as in most of the Asiatic ones, the parotoids are more or less kidney-shaped, their greatest width being forwards, and more elongate than those of B. calamita, their length equalling double their breadth, and the distance between their front edge and the tip of the snout, or nearly so; in some Asiatic specimens1 they are enormous, often ovate, much longer than the head, and once and a half to twice as long as broad. These differences in the dimensions of these glands do not correspond either with the age, sex, or origin of the specimens ; and as (among the numerous Asiatic specimens kindly sent to m e bj' Dr. Straueh) I have found intermediate forms, I a m convinced that these modifications are nothing more than individual, and do not necessitate the establishment of a distinct variety, as I should certainly have done had I not had a large series of specimens from various localities. Whatever be their form, the parotoids are depressed, and anteriorly in contact with the upper eyelids. The body is about three times as long as the head; and there is but little variation between sexes in that respect. The proportionsof the fore limb are the same as in B. calamita; but the fingers are not so short nor so pointed; the third is the longest, then come the first, the second, and the fourth; the first, or thumb, which is very broad in males, being laid against the index, exceeds it a little in length; the subarticular tubercles are two-rowed, often imperfectly, under the first and sometimes the second and third fingers. The tubercles of the hand are like those of B. calamita. The hind limb is longer than that of B. calamita and B. raddei; being carried forwards along the body, the metatarsal tubercles reach the anterior corner of the eye in males, the posterior corner in females; the tibia is always considerably longer than the head, and sometimes with a parotoid-like gland, sometimes without. It was first noticed by M . Lataste on an Algerian specimen, which he therefore, aud also on account of its origin, regarded as the type of a new species; but other Algerian specimens do not exhibit the least trace of that gland. I have found it, and much developed, on some Asiatic specimens; and I thought for some time, before I had an opportunity to examine a great number of these Toads, that its presence corresponded with the extraordinary size of the parotoids, and that these two characters united indicated a species distinct from B. viridis; but now I have seen the gland in specimens with normal parotoids. I have, however, never noticed it somewhat developed in any European specimen. It is therefore necessary to give up considering the absence of a parotoid-like gland on the upperside of the calf a character of absolute value, distinguishing this species from the two preceding ones. The cutaneous fold along the tarsus is like that of B. calamita. The metatarsus is provided with two tubercles, the inner one a little more prominent than in B. calamita. The toes are moderately elongate, the fourth one third longer than the third ; 1 Noukouss (Amou-Daria), Tschinas (Turkestan), Mangyschlak (eastern coast of the Caspian Sea). |
