code: private static byte[] parseDottedQuad(String address) {
  		String[] splitString = address.split("\\.");
  
  		if (splitString.length == 4) {
  
  			int[] ints = new int[4];
  			byte[] bytes = new byte[4];
  			for (int i=0; i<4; i++) {
  				ints[i] = Integer.parseInt(splitString[i]);
  				if (ints[i] < 0 || ints[i] > 255) {
  					throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid ip4Address or netmask");
  				}
  				bytes[i] = toByte(ints[i]); //a pox on java and it's signed bytes
  			}
  
  			return bytes;
  		}
  		else {
  			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Address must be in dotted quad notation");
  		}
  	}
docs: parse ip4 address as dotted quad notation into bytes
  @param address
  @return