204 ANURA 



parts is studded with calcareous deposits, and tlie parotoids are 

 large. It is blue-green above, purplish white below, the sides of 

 the body and limbs with white purple-edged spots. 



Ph. hypochondrialis has been found breeding freely in the 

 Paraguayan Chaco by Budgett,^ from whose account the 

 following notes have been extracted. This brilliantly coloured 

 frog is green above, which colour may become brown -grey or 

 bluish at will ; below, white and granular. The flanks are 

 scarlet, with black transverse bars, and the plantar surfaces are 

 deep purplish black. Total length about 1| inch. 



The " Wollunnkukk," as it is called by the Indians, from the 

 call of both male and female at pairing time, is extremely slow 

 in its movements, and is active only at night. At this time, if it 

 is seen by the aid of a lantern as it slowly climbs over the low 

 bushes and grass, it is very conspicuous. In the daytime, how- 

 ever, nothing is seen but the upper surface of the body as it lies 

 on the green leaf of a plant. It has a remarkable power of 

 changing its colour to harmonise with its surroundings, and can 

 effect a change from the brightest green to light chocolate in a 

 few minutes. The skin is also directly sensitive to light ; for if 

 the frog is exposed to the sun while in a tuft of grass in such a 

 way that shadows of blades of grass fall across it, on removal it 

 will be found that dark shadows of the grasses remain on the 

 skin, while the general colour has been raised to a lighter 

 shade. Its food consists largely of young locusts. The species 

 on each side are divided into five distinct clusters. The creature 

 has a large saccular diverticulum, which' is very heavily pig- 

 mented. 



In the breeding season — December to February — this beauti- 

 ful frog collects in considerable numbers in the neighbourhood of 

 pools. During the night-time they call incessantly to one 

 another, and produce a sound as of a dozen men breaking stones, 

 well imitated by the native name. 



The eggs are enclosed in batches in leaves near the margin of 

 the water. Budgett has been able to watch the whole process of 

 oviposition and fertilisation. He found, at 11 p.m., a female 

 carrying a male upon her back, wandering about in search of a 

 suitable leaf At last the female, climbing up the stem of a 

 plant near the water's edge, reached out and caught hold of the 



' Quart. J. Micr. Sci. xlii. 1899, p. 313. 



