i6 Records of the Indian Museum. [Vol. VIII, 



i6. Ixalus asper, Boulgr. 



Boulenger, P.Z.S., 1886, p. 415, pi. xxxix, and Ann. Mus. 

 Geneva (2nd ser.), xiii, p. 340, 1893; Sclater, P.Z.S., 1892, 

 p. 347; Robinson, Journ. F.M.S. Mus., i, p. 24, 



This species appears to be the most widely distributed of the 

 Indian Ixali. It was originally described from the mountains of 

 Perak in the Malay Peninsula and was found by the late Signor 

 Fea in the Karin Hills and by one of our collectors in the hills 

 between Burma and Siam. The Indian Museum possesses a speci- 

 men labelled as being from Kolasi in the Purnea district of Bihar, 

 but this specimen very possibly came actually from the foot-hills 

 of eastern Nepal. 



The irregular white or greyish-white markings on the posterior 

 part of the body of / asper give it exactly the appearance of being 

 overgrown with a mould or fungus. Whether this is of any pro- 

 tective advantage to the frog may perhaps be doubted, but I 

 have noticed a similar phenomenon in the case of several Malayan 

 insects belonging to the orders Coleoptera and Rhynchota and it 

 is well known that in tropical jungles insects are frequently attacked 

 by fungi which produce a while mycelium and finally, having 

 killed them, fasten their dead bodies by means of this mycelium 

 to tree-trunks or other inanimate objects. 



A specimen of Ixalus asper was taken on a tree-trunk at the 

 edge of Egar stream between Renging and Rotung on 9th January, 

 191 2. With it were taken the type specimen of Rhacophorus naso, 

 a specimen of Ixalus tuherculatus and also tadpoles of two species, a 

 Megalophrys (M. ? major) and a Ranid which cannot be identified. 



17. Ixalus annandalei, Boulgr. 

 (Plate iii, fig. 2.) 

 Boulenger, J. A S.B., 1906 (2), p. 385. 



This species was not taken on the Abor Expedition, but a 

 single specimen was obtained by Mr. Kemp in December, 1910, on 

 the Bhutan frontier of Assam in the Mangaldai division of the 

 Darrang district. It is common in the Darjiling district between 

 4,000 and 5,000 ft. and occurs both among dead leaves and low 

 herbage in the jungle and on tea-bushes. 



18. Ixalus argus, sp. nov. 

 (Plate iii, fig 3.) 



Habit moderately-slender, RhacophorusAike. lycngth from 

 snout to vent 27 mm. 



Head short and broad, triangular; snout blunt, somewhat 

 depressed at tip, obliquely truncate vertically, projecting, a little 

 longer than the orbit ; nostril nearer tip of snout than eye ; canthus 

 rostralis fairly distinct; loreal region vertical, concave; tympanum 

 distinct, small, about ^ as broad as eye, interorbital space broader 

 than upper eyelid. 



