SOME NOTES ON LIZARDS, FROGS AND HUMAN BEINGS. 499 
circumspectly, and you have your heart in the job, and your eyes are sharp, and 
your feet are nimble, and you do not mind getting wet, and there are not too 
many thorns to hold you back, and there is not a pool handy into which froggie 
can dive, and a few other “‘ifs ” the batrachian ought to be yours. I have repeat- 
ed the performance and know. Of course I got a bit wet and muddy during this 
adventure and its extraordinary when one comes home like that how every lady 
in the Hotel is sure to be sitting outside, and girls do ask such silly questions. I 
find it difficuit to know how to clothe on these excursions. If one goes out 
dressed for the sport, the shabbiness ana durtiness of one’s attire excites 
attention on the outward journey. On the other hand if decently attired after 
an affair such as that just narrated, the condition of one’s clothes provokes 
attention on the homeward journey. 
There was a peculiar satisfaction in getting this frog, because he had defeated 
me so many times previously, and he had contributed in no small measure to 
my unpopularity among the officials in Sim’s Park. 
Forttmately the sport of hunting frogs is not like international yachting or 
polo. No matter what has happened in previous contests, the last is the one and 
only one that really matters. The winner of this wins the rubber outright. 
The voice of this frog is a subdued, harsh, monosyllabic croak, and having 
heard it one cannot help feeling that Mrs. Rana temporalis must be a very dull 
person to be charmed by any thing so uninteresting. The best feature of the 
declaration of love is its brevity. 
Genus Buro, 
Bufo melanostictus.—The Commo; Indian Toad. 
This species is as common in the Nilgiris Hills at the altitude of Coonoor as it 
is in the plains, and occurs abundantly even up to the level of Ootacamund. I 
found it breeding in the ornamental water in the Botanical Gardens at that 
station. The young were hopping about all over the gardens in July I think, 
though I have omitted to note the exact date. It makes a short, monosylla- 
bic hiss when provoked. 
This forms the staple food of the snake, Macropisthodon plum'icolor, a species 
that is abundant up to the altitude of Ootacamund. 
Bufo beddomei.—Beddome’s Toad. 
A toad identified with some doubt as this species was captured by me on Adder- 
ley Estate at about 4.500 feet. This specimen was adorned with carmine spots 
and blotches on the sides of the body, and on the front of the forelimbs, as are 
some specimens of the last toad. 
When the “‘ Fauna Reptilia and Batrachia ”’ appeared in 1890, it had only 
been recorded from the Travancore Hills, and this fact alone makes me query 
the correctness of my identification. 
Icthyophis glutinosus. 
This cecilian is fairly common in the Wynad. It appears to subsist entirely 
on earthworms. I removed one from the stomach of one specimen, and found 
the intestine of others loaded with semiliquid mud evidently derived from this 
form of diet. 
