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Show 1889.] OF THE GENUS RHACOPHORUS. 29 I am nevertheless satisfied that both Blyth and Peters were correct in distinguishing two species in Ceylon, as were likewise the authors ot the ' Erpetologie generale' in distinguishing the Indian (Bengal, Pondichery, Malabar) from the Malayan (Java, Philippines) form, although they made the mistake of applying to the former the name leucomystax, which belongs to the latter, their P. rugosus. The comparison of fully adult skulls shows very great differences between the extreme types ; and these differences corresponding with certain external characters, though of a very trivial nature, and with the habitats, it is difficult not to admit that they deserve recognition in the system. But if a large series of examples be examined, the gaps between the various forms are nearly completely bridged over, as may be seen from the figures (p. 28), which at the same time afford an excellent example of derivation of characters and speak clearly against the systematic value of certain cranial structures to which Cope still attaches undue importance1. However, I think it best to distinguish as species the three following forms, and I will proceed to give their characters, synonymy, and distribution. RHACOPHORUS LEUCOMYSTAX. Hyla leucomystax, Gravenh. Delic. Mus. Vratisl. p. 26 (1829). Hyla sexvirgata, Gravenh. I. c. p. 28. Hyla quadrilineata, Wiegm. N. Acta Ac. Leop.-Carol. xvii. i. p. 260, pi. xxii. fig. 1 (1835). Polypedates leucomystax, Tschudi, Class. Batr. p. 75 (1838); Cantor, Cat. Mai. Rept. p. 142 (1847). Polypedates rugosus, Dum. & Bibr. viii. p. 520 (1841). Polypedates maculatus, part., Giinth. Cat. Batr. p. 78 (1858), and Rept. Brit. Ind. p. 428 (1864) ; Stoliczka, Proc. As. Soc. Beng. 1872, p. 106. Polypedates quadrilineatus, Giinth. II. cc. pp. 79 & 429 ; Anders. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 207. Polypedates maculatus, Anders. /. c. Polypedates megacephalus, Hallow. Proc. Ac. Philad. 1860, p. 507. Rhacophorus maculatus, part., Bouleng. Cat. Batr. p. 83 (1882). Hy lor ana longipes, Fischer, Arch. f. Nat. Ii. p. 47 (1885). The largest specimen (from Siam) in the Collection measures 81 millim. from snout to vent. No connection between the fronto-parietals and the squamosals. Iu the Himalayan specimens examined (six from Darjeeling and one 1 Prof. Cope, in a notice of the British Museum Catalogue of Batrachians (cf. A m . Nat. 1883, p. 181), expresses the hope that, if another edition of the work is called for, the author will modify it by the adoption of the genera characterized by the degree of ossification of the cranial bones, which would divide Hyla into four genera, viz. Hyla, Scytopis, Ostcoccphalus, and Trachycephalus. If these principles were applied to the Rhacophori, we should have at least three genera in the macutatus-group ; just as, on account of the presence of a frontoparietal fontanelle, Bufo calamita is placed by Cope in a distinct genus away from B. viridis. In fact, he has recently (' Origin of the Fittest,' p. 82) proposed to restrict the genus Polypedates to the species with rugose skull. |
