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Show 912 MR. STANLEY S. FLOWER ON THE [Nov. 14, Distribution. Malay Peninsula (Perak and Malacca), Sumatra, Borneo. N.B.-Mr. L. Wray (Perak Museum Notes, vol. ii. part ii. p. 135) credits m e with having presented the Museum at Taiping with a toad of this species from Penang; the toad in question, however, was a specimen of B. asper. 42. BUFO DIVERGENS Peters. Mr. A. L. Butler informs me he has obtained this species in Salangor during the latter half of 1898 ; it had not previously been recorded from the Malay Peninsula. Distribution. Malay Peninsula. 43. BUFO ASPER Gravenh. Bufo asper, Blgr. Cat. Batr. Sal. p. 313; S. Flower, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 912. This is the grandest batrachian known to inhabit the Malay Peninsula, and interesting in many ways : its size, rugged coat, and prominent yellow eyes at once attract attention ; its muscular strength is unusually great for an animal of this class ; the strong scent of musk it gives out when excited or alarmed is remarkable ; its habit of pretending to be dead is very curious ; and, lastly, its motive for frequenting only particular caves and waterfalls would be most interesting to work out. For this reason I give each place and date on which I have met the species:- Great Waterfall, Botanical Gdns., Penang : 24.3.95 ; four. 30.3.95 ; two ( d d )• 24.4.26 ; three ( ? .) „ „ „ 8.3.98; two. „ „ „ 14.6.98; one. On 1st Jan., 1896,1 searched this place without seeing a single toad. Penang Hill, elevation about 2000 feet; 26th November, 1896, one individual. Penang Hill, elevation about 2000 feet; April 1898, three individuals. Batu Caves, Selangor, 28th and 30th June, 1898. In the dark part of these caves there were numbers of B. asper; on the 28th I saw about twenty individuals, some were several hundred yards underground (perhaps half a mile) and in places where no daylight could ever penetrate. All the toads seen in the caves were well-grown specimens, apparently adult; their rugged backs and colour exactly match many of the rocks in the caves. The excrement of these toads contained wings of small beetles and cockroaches. |