Dr. A. Giinther on Australian Tree-frogs. 251 



Regent's Park, as well as at my own house, I may make the following 

 remarks. In general, I was surprised to find a great similarity in their 

 habits with those of our common European Tree-frog. They sleep 

 during the day, squatting in a corner, generally selecting a place in 

 which they are hidden from view, but easily roused on the approach 

 of some insect, which they seize with their tongue. When the prey 

 is large, or when they have accidentally seized a small piece of wood, 

 &c., together with the insect, they use their fore foot to push the in- 

 sect into the mouth, or to remove the object which is unfit for food. 

 They never enter the water during the summer months, and tried 

 to escape from a tank when put into it. They leave their hiding- 

 places towards dusk, becoming very lively, apparently less with the 

 object of obtaining food (which they can only procure by quietly 

 remaining in wait for it) than with that of enjoying themselves ; and 

 Pelodryas cceruleus, which is endowed with a voice, indulged every 

 evening in a musical performance. They became more quiet after 

 midnight, and at sunrise they had settled down at some resting- 

 place, sometimes one individual choosing the same place for several 

 consecutive days. They preferred bluebottle flies to every other 

 insect, and never touched ants or black beetles. Pelodryas cceruleus 

 feeds freely on meal-worms when other food is scarce ; but they are 

 frequently vomited, and I doubt whether these frogs could be kept 

 in good health if restricted to this particular kind of food. In all 

 these points the Australian species mentioned agree with the Euro- 

 pean Tree-frog, and I need hardly say that they as easily climb 

 smooth surfaces, glass, &c., as the latter species. 



Pelodryas cceruleus. White (Giinth. Batr. Sal. pi. 9. fig. B). — 

 The natural colour of this species is a light grass-green, which, when 

 the animal is kept in the dark or in a very wet place, changes into 

 dark sap-green ; roundish yellowish-white spots are sometimes scat- 

 tered on the sides. I have mentioned above that it has a voice, which 

 is a kind of grunting, somewhat resembling that of Rana esculenta, 

 but lower. I must remark, however, that the two examples in the 

 menagerie, a male and female, are evidently not full-grown ; and I 

 was rather surprised to hear a voice at all from the male, as in Hyla 

 viridis the vocal sac and the voice are not developed before the indi- 

 vidual has attained to maturity and to its full size. The hind limbs 

 are comparatively short, and therefore this species cannot make such 

 wide jumps as the true Hylce. I could not observe any secretion 

 from the parotid glands, which are so much developed in full-sized 

 individuals, but which are scarcely perceptible in our specimens. 

 These Frogs soon became familiar, especially the male, which, when 

 I went to feed them, used to approach and to watch the opening 

 through which I introduced the flies into their cage. 



Hyla Peronii, Bibron. — This species is very remarkable on account 

 of the change of its colours. 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 the loin are bright yellow, with irregular reticulated black spots. 

 The pupil is open, horizontally elliptic, and crossed by a very distinct 



