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Show 1880.] PALAEARCTIC AND .ETHIOPIAN TOADS 559 old specimens ; the first and third fingers are about equally long j the first being laid against the second, exceeds it by about one third or one fourth of its own length ; the subarticular tubercles are double, although often imperfectly. The principal palmar tubercle is relatively larger than that of B. viridis. The hind limb is longer than in the preceding species ; being cai ried forwards along the body, the metatarsal tubercles reach the tip of the snout in males, the anterior corner of the eye, or slightly beyond, in females; the calf is m u c h longer than the head, and without parotoid-like gland. The cutaneous tarsal fold is like that of B. viridis. The metatarsal tubercle at the base of the first toe is strong, oval, very prominent; that at the base of the fourth toe rather smaller, subcircular, flat. The toes are somewhat longer than those of B. viridis, slightly depressed, very obtuse ; the fourth is one third longer than the third, which is a little longer than the fifth; they are united at the base by a short web, which extends as a fold along their borders; most of the subarticular tubercles are two-rowed. The warts of the back and sides are like those of the preceding species, and sometimes spinose. The upper surface of the forearms and calves, instead of being nearly smooth, are strongly warty. The granules of the inferior surfaces are larger and more distant from one another upon the lower belly and under the thighs. The upper parts are greenish yellow or brownish, with large, in-suliform, rarely confluent, olive, or reddish-brown black-margined spots. M. Heron Royer has shown m e a living specimen which is above light grey, with some traces of spots on the head only. The lower surfaces are dirty white or yellowish, without spots. The tips of the fingers and toes are, at least during the breeding-season, reddish-brown or blackish. The iris is light yellow; on each side of the pupil, the black ver-miculations, which are nearly absent above and beneath, cover the yellow tint, and produce the aspect of a dark vitta through the eye. The males are provided with a subgular vocal vesicle, which is nearly as much developed as in B. calamita; the few males I have had the opportunity to examine have either two vocal slits or only one on the right side. During the breeding-season the throat is bluish, and the first three fingers are provided with black rugosities like those of B. calamita. Skeleton.-The skull of B. mauritanicus is very remarkable, and differs greatly from that of the preceding species, approaching in some respects that of some Indian and American species, B. mela-nostictus and B. agua for instance. The fronto-parietal bones, which do not show any trace of a fontanelle, and which are even sometimes nearly soldered together, expand laterally into a sort of crest, which, united with another one formed by the supraorbitals, to which they are quite soldered, borders the orbit above and behind; these bones are ;very concave, and nearly twice as broad backwards as forwards. The prefrontals are large, a little broader than long. Sometimes the prefrontals and fronto-parietals meet together along their |
