356 Miscellaneous, 



Finally, in the terminal intestine the residues of the digestive 

 operation and the secretion of the M^alpighian tubes (a purely urinary 

 secretion) are mixed together. 



If this summary is compared with that deduced from all ray pro- 

 ceding researches on the Insects in general, which concludes my 

 memoir of 187-t, it will be seen that the phenomena of digestion in 

 P. americana scarcely depart from the conclusions I then laid down. 

 They complete them, and are a remarkable confirmation of them. 



The notice terminates with a detailed reply to the objections of 

 my learned opponent. — Bull, de VAcad. Roy. de Belgique, tome xli. 

 p. 1206. 



Singular Ceylonese Frogs. 



[We have received the following interesting observations on Dr. 

 Giinther's paper " On the Mode of Propagation of some Ceylonese 

 Tree-frogs," which appeared in the 'Annals ' for May 1876. — Eds.] 



When I began to collect our Ceylon reptiles some years ago, the 

 spawn referred to of a tree-frog seemed so common that I did 

 not then notice it as a curious circumstance. I have had several of 

 these sent to me from the damp trunks of plantain trees, and espe- 

 cially from the perpendicular sides of the stone-quarries at Mutuwal ; 

 and about the same time I saw one on the corner of a tank close to 

 the lake near my house in Slave Island. All these masses of spawn 

 were firmly attached to some object, and were several inches from 

 the water. They were several inches in length and from 2| to 3 

 inches across the rounded mass at the lower end ; and I concluded 

 they were the spawn of the most common tree-frog in Ceylon from 

 the coast up to several thousand feet elevation. In a note from 

 Mr. J. Catto from Illagolla, and dated 1872, he told me he had seen 

 a good deal of this spawn, and oflfered to send me some of it. 



Our Colombo frogs arc the following ; and this spawn must be the 

 produce of one of them. 1st. The most abundant is the bright 

 green-coloured large frog seen in such quantities on weeds, with 

 their heads out of the water, in the Colombo lake, and not unlike 

 the eatable frog ; indeed a Frenchman who could not resist eating 

 these pronounced them very good. It is the Rana hexadactyla, 

 and adds to the concert of frogs in the lake at the commencement 

 of each monsoon. 2nd. The Rana tigrina^ or Ceylon bull-frog, a 

 very large brown-spotted frog, with corrugations along his back, 

 found in holes in damp places along the shores of the lake, rare 

 compared with the above, and croaks so loudly that his voice resem- 

 bles that of a young bull. 3rd. The Rana cyanophlyctis, a smaller 

 one than either of the above, with dark spotted back and white 

 abdomen, found in ponds and smaller bits of water, still more rare 

 than the other two. 4th. The very common house-toad, generally 

 found under flower-pots in Colombo : this is the Bufo melanostictis ; 

 and I am aware that all these four breed and spawn in the water. 

 5th. JJijjlojyelma ornatum, a beautifully coloured small squat frog, 

 has been brought to me from the vicinity of Colombo. 6th. Callula 

 pulchra, a dark-coloured toad-like one, very rarelj" found near 

 Colombo ; but I never saw these, nor heard of their being found in 



