122 



Records of the Indian Museum. 



[Vol. XVI, 



Rana cyanophlyctis, Schneider. 



This frog, one of the commonest species in the plains of India, 

 is found only in the immediate neighbourhood of water. It is 

 equally at home in puddles of rain-water, ponds and streams, but 

 does not frequent the smaller mountain streamlets. So far as my 

 own observations go, it is the only species that skips over the 

 surface of the water as R. limnocharis is sometimes stated, I 

 believed incorrectly, to do. The habit was first noted in litera- 

 ture by the Emperor Babur ' in the year 1525-1526. R. hexadac- 

 tyla may have the same habit when young, but when full grown 

 is probably, as Dr. Henderson points out in a letter, too heavy an 

 animal.* R. cyanophlyctis is frequently seen in wells and in pools 

 with a steep margin. In such conditions it floats on the surface of 

 the water, but when a resting place is available it usually sits at 

 the edge. When disturbed it gives a short leap, horizontally 



FiG. 2. — Hind foot of R. cya)iophiyctis (enlarged). 



rather than upwards, and strikes the surface of the water with its 

 short, broad, slightly cup- shaped and stoutly webbed hind feet 

 (fig. 2) at such an angle that it is again propelled forwards through 

 the air for some inches ; it then again strikes the water in the 

 same way, and the manoeuvre may be repeated as many as seven 

 times. When the impetus is exhausted, as it usually is after a 

 couple of yards or at most 10 feet — the Emperor's observation was 

 not strictly accurate — the frog dives obliquely forwards to the 



' He says in his "Memoirs," "The frogs of Hindustan, though otherwise 

 like those others (Tramontane) run 6 or 7 yards on the face of the water." Set 

 The Memoirs of Emperor Bahttr, translated by Annette S. Beveridge, fasc. HI, 

 p. 503 (1918). 



1 Since this was written I have been able to observe R. hexadactyla in 

 Madras. The adult usually sits among weeds in the water, where its bright 

 green colour conceals it to some extent. When disturbed it dives tl rough the 

 weeds but if they are too thick it skips feebly two or three times. 



