174 



THE TWO-STRIPED FEOG. 



trasting colours render it more conspicuous than its green and olive relatives. The 

 popular name of this creature is very appropriate, as the whole of the upper parts are 

 intense azure, and the under parts pure white, or white tinged with rose. The thighs and 

 sides are spotted witl: the same hue as the abdomen. 



PASSING over the small sec- 

 tion of Frogs (Micrhylina) distin- 

 guishable by their toothed jaws 

 and imperfect ears, and repre- 

 yented by a single species, we 

 come to the third section of these 

 animals (Hylaples-dra), known by 

 their toothless jaws and perfectly 

 developed ears. Of this section, 

 the TWO-STEIPED FEOG affords a 

 good example. 



This species is a native of 

 Southern Africa, and is chiefly 

 found in the eastern and north- 

 eastern parts of the colony of 

 Cape Town. It lives almost en- 

 tirely upon or in trees, and may 

 be seen either in the cavities of a 

 decaying trunk, or clinging to 

 the bark in close proximity to 

 one of these holes. 



In Dr. A. Smith's "Illustra- 

 tions of the Zoology of Southern 

 Africa," there is so curious and 

 important an account of the im- 

 prisonment of this species in the 

 bole of a tree, that it must be 

 given in his own words : 



" On the banks of the Lim- 

 popo river, close to the tropic of 

 Capricorn, a massive tree was cut 

 down to obtain wood to repair a 

 waggon. The workman, while 

 sawing the trunk longitudinally, 

 nearly along its centre, remarked 

 on reaching a certain point 'It 

 is hollow, and will not answer the 

 purpose for which it is wanted.' 



He persevered, however, and 

 when a division into equal halves 

 was effected, it was discovered 

 that the saw in its course had 



crossed a large hole, in which were five specimens of the species just described, 

 each about an inch in length. Every exertion was made to discover a means of com- 

 munication between the external air and the cavity, but without success. Every point 

 of the latter was probed with the utmost care, and water was left in each half for a 

 considerable time, without any passing into the wood. The inner surface of the cavity 

 was black, as if charred, and so was likewise the adjoining wood for half an inch from 

 the cavity. 



The tree, at the part where the latter existed, was nineteen inches in diameter, the 

 length of the trunk was eighteen feet ; the age, which was observed at the time, I regret 



B1COLOUKED TREE-FUOG. Phyllomedusa bicoJor. 



