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Show 898 MR. S. S. FLOWER ON THE REPTILES AND [Dec.l, Mr. Hervey. A Frog in the Raffles Museum, Singapore, labelled " Malacca," is apparently of this species, but it is in a bad state of preservation, aud the back is quite smooth, without the tubercles which are present in Mr. Hervey's specimen ; both are females. Hab. India, Malay Peninsula. 5. RANA MACRODON, Kuhl. (Plate XLV. fig. 1.) Bana fusca, Stol. J. A. S. B. 1873, p. 115. Rana macrodon, Blanford, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 225, pl. xxi. fig. 4 (upper view of head); Boul. Cat. Batr. Sal. p. 24, pl. i. fig. 4 (inside of mouth). As first pointed out by Mr. Blanford, there seem to be two varieties of this species, very different in appearance. The specimens I collected at Penang are so different from those I got at Singapore, as to appear to be of distinct species ; but on comparing them with the large series in the British Museum from many different localities in the East Indies, I cannot find any constant characters by which to separate the two varieties. Stoliczka found this species in the collection he got from Penang and Province Wellesley, but from his description one cannot tell to which variety his specimens belonged. F. Midler mentions a specimen of Rana macrodon (Giinth. Cat. Batr. p. 8) from Malacca in the Bale Museum (Verh. naturforsch. Ges. Basel, vii. 1882-85). The following description will, I trust, be of use in identifying this Frog: provisionally I have called the broad-headed form the Singapore variety, and the narrower-headed the Penang variety. Vomerine teeth on two straight ridges running obliquely back from the anterior angle of the choanae, and converging behind so as to meet, if prolonged, nearly in a right angle, but rather widely separated ; a strong osseous transverse ridge behind the choanae; lower jaw with two fang-like bony prominences in front, fitting into hollow;s inside the upper jaw ; when the mouth is closed, the size to w hich these prominences are developed is variable. Head large, this is especially so in the adults of the Singapore variety. In the typical Penang variety the snout is usually pointed, but very variable iu shape ; in the Singapore variety it is broad and rounded at the end. Blanford says of the snout of the Singapore variety, " no trace of canthus rostralis,'' but in m y specimens, though but slightly developed, it is at once apparent; no constant distinction can be made between the two varieties in regard to the amount of depression of tbe snout. Occiput more or less swolleu at the sides. The nostrils are nearer the end of snout than the eye ; their distance apart in the Penang variety is equal to or greater than the interorbital space, while in the Singapore variety it is considerably less: this character wdll be found useful in distinguishing between the two varieties, but it does not hold good for young specimens. In all seven Penang specimens the breadth across the gape is about equal to the distance from angle of mouth to end of snout, and considerably less than the |
