March 1, 1SG9."| 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



A LITTLE EROG. 



XXTHEN riding one day over the Elats, about 

 * " ten miles from Cape Town, we were passing 

 near the edge of a lake where the heath and bush 

 were rather high, and the ground swampy ; a small 

 •frog jumped on to one of our horses. As it was a 

 rare kind which I had never seen before, we caught 

 it, tied it in a handkerchief, and carried it home. 

 It was of a very peculiar delicate cream colour, 

 •sometimes appearing almost gilded, and at other 

 times of a duller pinkish hue ; there was a darker 

 stripe from the eyes down each side. The eyes 

 very large, bright, and prominent, the feet formed 

 like those of the tree frogs, the toes being of a 

 bright orange red colour : the body was little more 

 than an inch in length, and so transparent that it 

 was always easy to see if he had had his dinner or 



Fig. 48. Cape Frogs in a tumbler. 



not. The hind legs were very long, enabling it to 

 jump a considerable distance. I placed it in a 

 t umbler with a little water at the bottom, and after 

 a few days I was intending to let it go, not knowing 

 what to feed it on, when suddenly it sprang on to a 

 newspaper after a fly ; seeing this 1 resolved to 

 keep it, and if possible to bring it with me to 

 England. I used to let it loose in the room, and 

 often it would spend hours sitting on the window, 

 generally preferring the glass to the woodwork. 

 It never willingly went into the water, but I often 

 refreshed it with a bath. It was only after some 

 time, by most careful watching, that we discovered 

 the mode by which the prey was caught : it 

 appeared as if the flies walked into its mouth by 

 some sort of fatal fascination exercised over them ; 

 but on its trying to catch flies on a painted post, 

 while sitting on my hand its tongue adhered so 

 tightly, that I had then time to see that it, was by 



darting out a broad, irregularly shaped, and very 

 sticky tongue under the flies, that he managed to- 

 catch them. Elies were its favourite food, but 

 sometimes a small spider would fall a victim. In 

 cold weather it would remain sitting on the side of 

 the tumbler, and would refuse all food for many 

 days together, but in warmer weather it would 

 become much more active and -eager for food, 

 generally three or four flics would satisfy it, but 

 sometimes it would take as many as eight if they 

 were of a small size ; they were all swallowed 

 whole. 



I never saw any sign of its changing its skin, and 

 never heard it make any noise. It appeared quite 

 tame and would jump all over me, and feed from my 

 hand. Having never seen any description of this 

 kind of frog in Natural History books, I have not 

 been able to discover its name, and should be much 

 obliged if you or any of your readers could enlighten 

 me. As it was the only one that I ever saw, I 

 believe it to be a rare and certainly a very beautiful 

 little frog. After keeping it for nearly a year, it 

 escaped and I never saw it again. 



M. E. D. 



The Oak-feeding Silkworm (Bombyx Tama- 

 mai). — On May 17th I received two or three dozen 

 eggs of this new silkworm ; and in about an hour 

 after they arrived, my first caterpillar was hatched, 

 and put on oak leaves. On the following day, six 

 more came out ; but unfortunately I lost two of 

 them as they wandered away from the leaves. I did 

 not care much about it at the time, as I expected 

 more of the eggs to hatch ; but in this I was dis- 

 appointed, for no more came out. "When about a 

 fortnight old, one of them turned rather black, and 

 soon died ; another fell into the water, and was 

 drowned ; so that my stock was reduced to three 

 caterpillars, and these did well all through their 

 stages. They grew fast, were a beautiful bright 

 green colour, with white spots on their sides, like dia- 

 monds ; and being quite new in this country, were 

 objects of great interest to myself and numerous 

 friends. On July 10th, two of them began to spin 

 up. They seem to be very irritable at this time, and 

 jerk about violently if the branches are touched. 

 The third caterpillar continued eating till the 22nd. 

 The cocoon is much larger, and more exposed than 

 that of the Ailanthus. It is a bright yellow. 

 On Sept. 3rd, the first moth came out — a beautiful 

 creature, of a rich brown colour, measuring 7 inches 

 across from wing to wing; and wishing to keep it 

 in good order for my cabinet, I took its life on the 

 third day, as there seemed no prospect of more. 

 On the 8th, another came out, and laid nine eggs. 

 The other did not come out till the ISth of Sep- 

 tember, so that I had no chance of pairing them. 

 I hope to get some more eggs this year. — S. B. 



