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president’s ADDRESS — SECTION D. 
Having thus endeavoured to give a general idea of the nature and 
origin of the cryptozoic fauna, I propose, with your permission, to give 
a short review of our knowledge of the principal groups of cryptozoic 
animals met with in Australasia, considering them in their proper 
zoological order. 
VERTEBRATA. 
It is doubtful whether it would be expedient to consider any 
vertebrate animals as forming a normal constituent of the cryptozoic 
fauna, although several small vertebrates are not infrequently found 
in cryptozoic haunts. Lizards, for example, and small snakes are 
very commonly met with uuder logs and stones, but these animals 
are by no means constrained by their organisation to adopt such 
a habitat, except in cases of hibernation, and probably merely 
make use of these retreats as temporary hiding-places. With frogs 
the case is somewhat different. They cannot withstand drought, 
and their presence under logs and stones is doubtless usually to be 
explained by the moisture of these situations. Moreover, it is not 
improbable that they make use of the rich supply of animal food in 
such localities ; and some species may even pass the greater part of 
their lives therein. Many, of course, take to the water for breeding 
purposes, but some may even deposit their spawn under stones and in 
such like situations. 1 have observed this fact myself in Victoria, and 
Mr. Fletcher has published some very interesting notes on the subject, 
together with many other observations on the habits of Australian 
Batraehians, in the Proceedings of the Liimean Society of New South 
Wales. He says,* “ The two species of Psmdophryne do not deposit 
in water, but under stones, &e., in damp situations. The tadpoles, 
though capable of sustaining without injury a prolonged postponement 
of the hatching — in one case for a period of over three months — seem 
unable to complete their metamorphoses without gaining access to 
water.” He also quotes from Bouleuger the interesting fact that there 
are certain Batraehians which deposit their ova in damp situations or 
on leaves, and whose embryos leave the eggs in the perfect air-breathing 
form. 
Those who are interested in the numerous species of Australian 
frogs should refer to the papers by Mr. Fletcher in the Proceedings cf 
the Linnean Society of New South Wales, and by Mr. Lucas in the 
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. In New Zealand only 
a single species of frog is known to occur — viz., Leiopelma hochstetteri— 
and that is very rare and confined to the district around Auckland, in 
the North Island. 
MOLLUSCA. 
Although a large proportion of the species are of very insignificant 
dimensions, the number of Australasian land snails and slugs is sur- 
prisingly large. 
All of these are probably more or less cryptozoic in habit, the 
need for moistuie rendering such a mode of life imperative. 
Mr. II . Suter has kindly drawn up for me a list of those land 
mollusca which are found under logs and stones, and decaying leaves, 
* Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. iv. [Ser. 2], p. 360. 
