1899.1 BATUACHIAIfS OF THE MALAY PENINStTLA ATS^D STAM. 907 



the single male obtained from a field near Malacca by Cantor, and 

 specimens in the Museum at Kuala Lumper, from that place, 

 where it is said to be common. In Siam I have observed it in 

 Bangkok (Jan., May, June, July, Aug., Nov., and Dec), at Paknam 

 Menam (Aug.), at Tahkamen on the Bangpakong river (April), 

 and I have also received specimens from Chantaboon. 



Habits. From having Icept many specimens in captivitv for 

 months at a time, and also observed them frequently in their native 

 haunts, I think Valliila pnlcJira is tlie c]e\ erest batrachian I have 

 come across : they are good swimmers, can hop \\q\\ on land and 

 also climb fairly, though slowly ; ours in captivity in the evening 

 often go up the glass side of their case, but they manage 

 better in a corner than on a plain vertical glass wall. During the 

 rains, when every evening swarms of insects flew into the house 

 attracted by the light and were a great annoyance at dinner-time, 

 we were in the habit of putting a Calhda or two on the dinner- 

 table : they seemed to understand what they were there for, and 

 instead of jumping off the table or being alarmed by us or the 

 servants, caught and ate the flying insects, one after another, as 

 they alighted on the cloth. Termites, ants, moths, small beetles, 

 crickets, and grasshoppers they devour eagerly, but the larger 

 crickets and grasshoppers they cannot manage to hold to get them 

 into their small mouths ; they seem more clever in catching their 

 desired prey than either Rana or Bufo, and also show curious 

 discrimination in not attempting to seize the winged bugs, which 

 often come into the house at the same time as the smarms of ants, 

 termites, &c. 



During the rainy season in Bangkok almost every evening, after a 

 wet day, the whole air is full of the booming of these frogs — "eung- 

 ahng, eung-ahng, eung-ahng," now rising, now falhng, and the 

 sound continues all uight. In some of the roads where there is low 

 land and much water on each side, and Callula swarms, you can 

 hardly hear yourself speak for the noise, but at the distance of a 

 quarter or half a mile the sound is not unpleasant and is hke that 

 of a great weir or waterfall. In Singapore possibly they croak on 

 suitable evenings all the year round ; personally I have noted them 

 doing so in the months of March, April, May, June, July, Sep- 

 tember, October, and December. In captivity they continue to 

 make their characteristic sound ; also apparently they can make a 

 quite different noise : on more than one occasion we were disturbed 

 at night in Bangkok by shriU screams apparently of a person 

 in great fear and pain ; the noise seemed to come from the room 

 where the CaUida were kept, but on procuring a light and goino- 

 there, I found them sitting quietly in their vivarium as if nothino- 

 had occurred, so it cannot be proved that they were the authors 

 of these really alarming cries*. 



' Our knowledge of the strange cries that animals make at times must still 

 be very meagre. Various noises occurred from time to time in the old ruinous 

 palace I lived in at Bangkok that I did not succeed in tracing : the natives (as 

 usual) attributed them to the supernatural, but I have no doubt they were 



