410 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
without even seeing anything of it. The discovery of the frog in 
New Zealand was reserved for the gold-diggers at Coromandel 
Harbour, where, in 1852, three small ones were found in their 
pits ; and afterwards, I heard, that one had occasionally been 
turned up by the settlers in the vicinity of Auckland. With 
these exceptions, I have not seen any, or heard of others seeing 
them ; they must be extremely rare, and had not I heard from 
the natives that there is a large frog on the Island of Mana, I 
should have been inclined to think those at Coromandel had 
been casually imported from Sydney. The natives describe 
a large frog, which they call, moko mokai, a maru te ware aitu, 
as having once been very abundant on that island ; they say 
it was as large as a small pullet, and in the tadpole state was 
more than a foot long; they also affirmed there was a smaller 
one found in the same locality ; but the existence of the bull¬ 
frog at present rests on their report. 
No snakes have ever been found, although there are reports 
of their having been introduced by the Sydney shipping. 
Many of the earth-worms are almost like snakes, being con¬ 
siderably more than a foot long ; some of these were formerly 
eaten, and esteemed very good: this was the case with the 
toke tipa, a very long large worm, which feeds on roots. There 
is a saying, that the reka, or sweetness, of this worm remained 
in the mouth for two days after it was eaten. 
TI1E ARAARA. 
The fish of the New Zealand seas are plentiful, and not 
deficient in variety. I shall endeavor to give a brief account 
of the principal kinds. 
Aihe, is a large fish, twenty-four feet long, having a small 
