. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Natural history. Some Field Notes on the Batrachia of the Cape Peninsula. 435 above and below the dark lateral stripe. When taken from specimen case it was dark mahogany with light spots, and after some time in the light was very light yellow-brown with no spots. Voice a low croak ; chief activity at night. It is very active, leaping upwards of 24 inches and alighting with certainty and precision. A favourite habit is to leap with hind legs wide spread and, when even a single toe touches a reed or the edge of a bloom
. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum. Natural history. Some Field Notes on the Batrachia of the Cape Peninsula. 435 above and below the dark lateral stripe. When taken from specimen case it was dark mahogany with light spots, and after some time in the light was very light yellow-brown with no spots. Voice a low croak ; chief activity at night. It is very active, leaping upwards of 24 inches and alighting with certainty and precision. A favourite habit is to leap with hind legs wide spread and, when even a single toe touches a reed or the edge of a bloom, to twirl round to the opposite side thereof, out of sight. When perched on even the thinnest grass-stalk, Rappia has its feet against and never clutching it. On a flat surface the normal rest position is as shown in the sketch, the hands and feet outlining the stomach and forming a chamber which probably assists adhesion. The male vocal sac is only noticeable at the breeding season, and is protected by a disc of thickened skin, of which, in over 200 living specimens, no suctorial function has been noted. It will be seen that the fingers pass across the vocal sac. The fingers show a vestige of web, the toes being half-webbed. It catches insects with extensile tongue, often leaping a considerable pj^^ i Rappia distance and catching them in its mid-flight. These horstockii. frogs have a habit of sitting on top of one another for hours or even days at a time, sometimes three deep and always exactly dressed and centred. This position, which has nothing whatever to do with mating, is often taken up even when the lower one is in a vertical position, and has only been observed in the case of captive specimens.* I do not consider that either R. marmorata or R. undulata occur in the Peninsula, and would similarly exclude Megalixalus spinifrons. Cassina senegalensis, Dum. and Bibr., is secretive, inactive, and nocturnal; does not hop, crawls rather slowly, climbs a little, and is only a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
