87 



fin rays corresponds almost exactly, and the difficulty of counting the rays in 

 the Whitebait is considerable, as they are more and more rudimentary at the 

 commencement and terminations of the fin. I wish to direct your attention to 

 this drawing of a Whitebait, which has been in the Acclimatization Society's 

 ponds a short time. I think anyone would say it was a young Smelt, it has 

 lost its Eel-like appearance, and is assuming the colour and markings of the 

 adult Smelt. 



In concluding this contribution to the natural history of the fresh-water 

 fishes of the River Avon, I may say that I am quite satisfied that the Whitebait 

 is the young of the Galaxia, commonly known as the Smelt, but if any of the 

 members doubt it, let me urge on them the propriety of setting the question 

 at rest in one of two ways ; either by developing Smelts from their ova, and 

 observing whether they pass through the Whitebait stage ; or, secondly, by 

 preserving the Whitebait themselves and watching their development, care 

 being taken to exclude all soiirces of error, such as the access of the ova of 

 other fish. Such an experiment is easily tried, and would be decisive. 



Art. XIII. — On the New Zealand Frog (Leiopelma Hochstetteri), with an 

 account of a remarkable feature in the history of some species of Australian 

 Frogs. By A. Wander Aitken. 



[Bead before the Auckland Institute, November 15, 1869.] 



While engaged in making an examination of the Thames Gold-field, I was 

 rather suprised to find that frogs existed in situations that no imported animals 

 can possibly have reached. I have always been led to believe that no animals 

 of the frog kind existed in New Zealand, and a long experience in the 

 inhabited and uninhabited portions of the islands, had almost confirmed that 

 belief. That the frogs, referred to by me, are indigenous to New Zealand, I 

 have no doubt, as they are quite different from any species I have hitherto 

 seen or read of. I have much pleasure in forwarding one herewith, which I 

 took from one of the range-creeks in the neighbourhood of Puriri. The portion 

 of the creek from which it was taken is about 500 feet above the level of the 

 Thames river, and below that point the creek is a succession of water-falls, and 

 very steep. In forwarding this specimen, I should like to bring under the 

 notice of the Institute a feature in the natural history of the frog, at present 

 (I believe) unknown to the scientific world, but which must be of the deepest 

 interest, not only to the student of natural history, but also to the student of 

 geology. 



There are districts, often exceeding 5000 square miles in extent, in the 

 interior of the Australian continent, in which there is no surface-water for 

 many months, and, in some instances, for years ; yet as soon as rain falls in 

 sufficient quantities to fill the water-holes, they are swarming with young frogs. 

 Before the rain fell, one might dig for ten or twelve feet without finding the 

 slightest moisture, much less water ; the whole of the ground is baked hard and 

 perfectly dry, and no sign of animal life apparently exists in it, or on it. 



Even vegetable life has almost ceased to exist, and the only remnant left 

 is a withered and half-dead Salt-bush, here and there. Yet rain on such 

 country had the effect of changing, as if by magic, the whole aspect of affairs, 

 —comparatively speaking, a desert, was, in a day, transformed into an Eden. 

 Plants sprung up everywhere, ducks and water-hens appeared in vast numbers, 

 and swarms of tadpoles peopled the water-holes. I could easily account for the 

 vegetable life, and for the wild-fowl ; but the tadpoles puzzled me, till a native 

 boy, not more than ten years old, opened my eyes, and satisfactorily solved a 



