222 ANURA CHAP. 



was so hard that it had to be chipped away. When one side of 

 the burrow was opened, the frog remained perfectly still ; its 

 lower eyelid was drawn up over the eye and was very opaque, 

 giving rise to the belief amongst the blacks that the animal is 

 blind. In the sunlight, after a short time, it opened its eyes. 



" On squeezing the body, water was forced out of the cloaca ; 

 this was accumulated principally in the urinary bladder. On 

 cutting the body open it was seen that there was a certain 

 amount of water in the subcutaneous spaces, but that the greater 

 portion, which caused the great swelling-out of the body, was 

 contained in the body-cavity itself ; and it was also observed that 

 the lungs were considerably distended and lengthened, their 

 apices lying right in the pelvic region. They contained air and 

 not water, but their outer faces were bathed with the water in 

 the body -cavity." The larvae and tadpoles probably develop 

 with extreme rapidity, soon to aestivate as very small frogs. 



Heleioporus has a calcified metasternal plate and slightly 

 dilated sacral vertebrae. The two species have a toad-like ap- 

 pearance, owing to their stout bodies, short limbs and conspicuous 

 parotoid glands. If. albopunctatus is mottled whitish red 

 and brown above ; it extends from Western into Central 

 Australia. H. pictus is olive, with darker marblings, and is distin- 

 guished by a light vertebral line. It is likewise found in Central 

 Australia, and it extends into Victoria and New South Wales. 

 Spencer found it in swarms after heavy rains, the specimens 

 being much swollen and distended with caterpillars and beetles. 

 They looked as if they were simply gorging themselves with 

 food preparatory to returning again to their long aestivating 

 condition. 



Limnodynastes is one of the commonest genera in Australia. 

 The six species have the habits and appearance of stout frogs or 

 smooth toads. L. dorsalis seems to range through the whole of 

 Australia, from east to west, arid looks like the European 

 Pelobates. The skin is smooth, but with an elongated white 

 gland extending from beneath the eye to the shoulder, and 

 another glandular complex on the thigh. The upper parts are 

 mottled olive-brown, often with a light vertebral line. The 

 under parts are whitish, with brown spots. The male has a 

 vocal sac. One of the specimens in the National Collection con- 

 tained a half-grown Heleioporus albopunctatus in its stomach. 



