370 OVIPOSITION AND HABITS OF CERTAIN BATRACHIANS, 



prepared to say ; but seeing that some of the small frogs actually 

 breed in mid- winter, one cannot help wondering whether if food 

 were more abundant during the cold months, the period of hiber- 

 nation would be as well-marked as it is. Certainly the species 

 differ among themselves in certain respects. For example the 

 larger species are silent during this period, but as early about the 

 middle of July if the weather is mild Limnodynastes tasmaniensis 

 may be heard and be found to be breeding, whereas this will not 

 be the case with Hyla aurea until about the end of September, 

 or a little later, and later still for H. ccerulea and II. peronii. On 

 the other hand II. ewingii yslv. calliscelis, and Crinia signifera 

 may be heard croaking and even breeding after rain in mid-winter, 

 though these species are to be found apparently sheltering under 

 stones, &c., like the others. 



That our frogs sestivate during hot and very dry periods there 

 can be no doubt ; in many cases they must certainly otherwise 

 perish. During such times one hears no croaking and sees very 

 little or nothing of the frogs ; while logs and stones no longer afford 

 sufficiently moist shelter. In March 1885, a very dry month, 

 after just sufficient rain to moisten the ground, hearing croaks 

 emanating from what under more favourable conditions is the bed 

 of a pond, I turned up the soil with a stick and soon unearthed 

 half a dozen specimens of Pseudophryne hibronii, which were in 

 this manner trying to survive the drought. 



Speaking of the Batrachia of Victoria, Professor McCoy says 

 " with the exception of the common green frog (Rayihyla aurea) 

 [they] are rarely seen or heard, — the true tree-frogs (Hyla) in- 

 habiting the lofty gum-trees, and the Limnodynastes tasmanicus, 

 L. dor sails, and L. affinis burrowing in the sand during the day.""^ 

 This statement will not apply to the Batrachians of this neighbour- 

 hood except perhaps during a drought. It is quite true that 

 nocturnal frogs like the species of Limnodynastes and Pseudo- 

 phryne are not seen or heard in the day-time except when breed- 



* Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) xx, 1867, p. 182. 



