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TREE-FROGS. 345 
White’s Tree-Frog (Hyla cwrulea) is a large, handsome species, 
and a native of Australia. It is now frequently imported into 
this country, where it can be bought, when in the market, for 
6s. or 7s. It soon grows tame. This Batrachian seems to prefer 
bluebottle flies for food to any other insect. It will, however, 
eat mealworms, young mice, and (though very rarely) cock- 
roaches. During the daytime it is generally at rest upon some 
leaf, but towards evening it becomes very lively, and often very 
noisy, making a grunting kind of croak. H. cwrulea has a round 
tongue, free and slightly notched behind; a head broader than 
long, and a rounded snout; a large, full eye; a very distinct 
tympanum, nearly as large as the eye; fingers which are webbed 
for one-third of their length, and toes which are webbed almost 
entirely ; the disks at the extremities of the fingers and toes about 
as large as the tympanum ; a slight ankle fold; and comparatively 
short hind limbs, showing that the animal is not so great a jumper 
as most of its genus; the upper parts of the body are smooth, while 
the lower are granulated. In full-grown specimens the parotoid 
glands are well developed. The colour is bluish-green above, and 
whitish underneath. The shade of colour, however, varies a 
good deal according to whether the creature’s position is in 
the light or dark, damp or dry. During the breeding season 
there are some brown rugosities on the inner side of the 
first finger. There are two varieties of this Frog, which are 
distinguished by the presence or absence of spots and streaks. 
H. cerulea is sometimes nearly 4}in. in length from the snout 
to the vent. 
Peron’s Tree-Frog (Hyla peron7?) is chiefly remarkable because 
of the change of its colours. Dr. Giinther (“‘ Proc. Zool. Soc., 
1863,”’ p. 250) describes this change in the following words: 
“When awake it is brownish-olive, covered all over with blackish- 
brown spots, between which small green dots are scattered; the 
anterior and posterior sides of the thigh and loi are bright 
yellow, with irregular reticulated black spots. The pupil is open, 
horizontally elliptic, and crossed by a very distinct blackish 
vertical band. When asleep the dark spots disappear entirely, 
the ground-colour becomes lighter . . . the green dots are 
very indistinct, and the numerous tubercles with which the skin 
