360 OVIPOSITION AND HABITS OF CERTAIN BATRACHIANS, 



way without presenting anything remarkable. At any rate, with 

 the exception of the ova of the two species of Pseudophryne 

 above-mentioned, no spawn has been met with by me except such 

 as has the characters mentioned. In the case of a few of the 

 rarer species, or those which do not occur very near Sydney, e.g.^ 

 Hyla lato2?ahnata, H. lesueurii, U. dentata^ Hylella bicolor, no 

 data whatever have so far been obtained. 



The two species of Pseudophryne do not oviposit in water, but 

 under stones, &c., in damp situations. The tadpoles, though 

 capable of sustaining without injury a prolonged postponement 

 of the hatching — in one case for a period of over three months, — - 

 seem unable to complete their metamorphoses without gaining 

 access to water. These two species therefore are referable to 

 Group II of Mr. Boulenger's Table, and w^ill be provided for if 

 Section A of it be subdivided as follows : — 

 ii. " The yolk-sac is very large, and the young undergoes the whole or 

 part of the metamorphosis within the egg ; at any rate the 

 larva does not assume an independent existence until after the 

 loss of the external gills." 

 A. " The ova are deposited in damp situations or on leaves." 



(a) The embryo leaves the egg in the tadpole stage. 



Pseudophryne australis, Gr.; P. 'bihronii,Qth.Y. 



(b) ** The embryo leaves the egg in the perfect air-breathing form." 



"i?a;ia opisthodon, Blgr.; Hy lodes martinicensis, D. & B." 



Other Australian frogs, more particularly Myohatrachus gouldii, 

 Gr., (sp.) from West, and Notaden hennettii^ Gthr., from East Aus- 

 tralia, perhaps also Helioporus cdhoinmctalus^ Gr., may be expected 

 to exhibit similar or perhaps even more interesting modifications. 

 In his description of the first-mentioned of these Dr. Giinther alludes 

 to the large size and the fewness of the ova.* Notaden is an 

 inland form, recorded in the British Museum Catalogue from 

 Castlereagh River, also from Wilson's River, Queensland ; but 

 this species also occurs in the Cobar and Narrabri districts, the 



*" The eggs are ver\' large, half the size of a pea, and there are only 

 twenty to twenty-four in one ovarium ; no sign of an embryo is visible 

 therein, although the eggs appear to be ripe for being laid." {Cat. of Batr. 

 Sal. in the Brit. Mus., first edition, p. 54). 



I 



