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Show 264 ON PHYLLOMEDUSA HYPOCHONDRIALIS. [Feb. 21, 2. Notes on a South-American Frog lately living in the Society's Gardens. By G. A. BOULENGER, C.M.Z.S. [Received January 30, 1882.] (Plate XIII.). The small Frog (Phyllomedusa hypochondrialis) which is the subject of this communication lived but a few days in the Society's Gardens. It had been obtained at Pernambuco by Dr. Stradling ; and was, I believe, the first specimen of this species that has reaches Europe alive. In spite of its small size (34 millim. from snout to vent), it is nearly adult, the species to which it belongs never growing to a size superior to that of the common Tree-frog of Europe ; whilst Phyllomedusa bicolor, of which P. hypochondrialis has frequently been regarded as the young, reaches the largest size which any member of the family Hylida? attains, viz. 130 millim. from snout to vent. It is not necessary to enter into details concerning the structural characters of this animal, as these will be found in m y ' Catalogue of the Batrachia Ecaudata in the British Museum' (p. 434), where thirteen species of Phyllomedusa are distinguished ; but I think it well to state that the inner toe only is opposable to the others, as has been figured by Burmeister in another species of the same genus, and not the two inner toes, as believed by many authors. The point of interest in the specimen, which I had the pleasure of observing alive, is the coloration. This is very different from that of spirit-specimens, and quite worthy of notice, as it does not appear to have been recorded before. When the animal sits half asleep on a leaf or against the glass of its case, the limbs folded against the body, as most Tree-frogs are in the habit of doing during the daytime, it is entirely of a light, rather faded green, without any markings. But when it stretches out its limbs, the aspect is very different, all the concealed surfaces, viz. the upper surface of the humerus, the two inner fingers, the flanks, the lateral and upper surfaces of the femur with the exception of a narrow green streak (the only part of the femur seen when the limbs are folded), the inner side of the tarsus and the three inner toes, being of a bright orange-colour, elegantly marked with transverse purplish-black bars. The upper lip has a very narrow white margin. A fine blackish line extends from the angle of the mouth to the middle of the side, separated by a white streak from the green of the back. Another blackish line round the lower lip ; another, white-margined, along the outer edge of the forearm and fourth finger, and tarsus and fifth toe. The lower surfaces are pure white, with the exception of the tibiae, which are orange. The iris is silvery white, as has been figured by Burmeister in Phyllomedusa burmeisteri. |