198 ANURA 



CHAP. 



verse bluish bars, the under parts are whitish. Its size is under 

 2 inches. Goeldi has often found it in the sheaths of decaying 

 banana-leaves. It glues the lumps of eggs on to the edges and 

 to the inside of the withered leaves, where even during the hot 

 hours of the day sufficient coolness and moisture are preserved. 

 These lumps are enveloped in a frothy substance, in which the 

 nearly metamorphosed tadpoles can be watched wriggling. If 

 these are put into water, all will die in a few hours. 



H. polytaenia deposits its eggs in free lumpy masses on water- 

 plants. It is a small creature, little more than 1 inch in length, 

 light olive above, with numerous brown parallel longitudinal 

 bands on the body and limbs. A dark, white - edged band 

 extends from the nose along the side of the body. The heel has 

 a short flap of skin. The male has an internal vocal sac. 



H. goeldii is a most interesting form, leading to the allied 

 genus Nototrema. Boulenger 1 has described a female which was 



captured by Goeldi in January 

 on the Serra dos Orgaos. 

 It is about 1J inch long. 

 The whole surface of the back 

 is occupied by a layer of 

 twenty -six pale yellow eggs 

 FIG. 38. Hyla goeldii. x i. Female with which are 4 mm. in diameter. 



eggs in the incipient dorsal brood-pouch. The ^ Qf the back ^ 



expanded into a feebly reverted fold, which borders and supports 

 the mass of eggs on the sides, thus suggesting an incipient stage 

 of a dorsal brood-pouch. Owing to the great amount of yolk, 

 the young are probably able to remain upon the mother until 

 they are nearly metamorphosed. 



H. coerulea s. cyanea is one of the largest Australian green tree- 

 frogs, ranging from the South to the very North of Australia. 

 The discs are as large as the fully-exposed tympanum. There 

 is no projecting rudiment of the pollex, but a slight cutaneous 

 fold borders the inner side of the tarsus. The skin is smooth 

 and shiny, always a little moist, and studded with numerous 

 rather large pores on the nape and shoulders ; this somewhat 

 thickened region forms a prominent fold which begins behind 

 the eyes. The belly and the under parts of the thighs are 

 granular as in most Hylidae. The male has an internal vocal 



1 P.Z.S. 1895, p. 209. 



