THE NATIVE FROG

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 20, 24 July 1934, Page 14

THE NATIVE FROG

SURVIVOR OF THE PAST

UNKNOWN TO EARLY MAORIS

"New Zealand is a sanctuary for one or two of the world's most interesting animals," said Mr. Gilbert Archey, director of the Auckland War Memorial Museum, in the course of a lecture on the little-known native frog. ';'New Zealand was cut off early in geological history from some northern land,'' said Mr. Archey. "At that time only primitive forms of life had appeared. Later developments in other parts of the world could not reach here. As a consequence we have preserved such primitive creatures as the tuatara lizard and the native frog. With this in mind, the duty of preventing their extermination cannot be too strongly emphasised." : The native frog, stated Mr. Archey, was so rare that when it was discovered by Dr..- A. S. Thomson in 1853 it was found that the Maoris, with all their knowledge of the bush and its denizens, could not give it a name. Actually, in 1838, ,Polack had referred to their "barometric croak" on the approach of rain, and facetiously. remarked concerning the discomfort of these "hydrqmaneers" in the rainy mountain districts, but probably he had not seen the actual animal. One of the most interesting points about the frog was its indication of the emergence of the creatures of the sea on. to the^ land. Whereas most frogs were dependent on water' for their lives, these had reached a stage in evolution when they were independent of anything but a moist atmosphere. Further up the scale was the tuatara lizard, which was a true terrestrial reptile. Fortunately the evolution had not gone far enough for the snake to develop. The native frog, stated Mr. Archey, had been found in three places in New Zealand, Stephen's Island, near Nelson, the ridges of the Coromandel flange, and the Waitakere ■ Ranges. Until a few years ago nothing of their breeding habits and their development ! was known. More recently eggs had I been collected and their hatching observed.. ' .-■ - , : ;'.'. .;.': Soino marked differences from the common frog were to be observed in the native type. For example, when developed they retained their "tailwagging" muscles, although they had long since lost the tail of the tadpolo stage. Again, they were poor flycatehersj and when put in water could swim only by dog-paddlirig. Most _of them were very small in size, being hardly more than an inch in. length, although larger specimens Vere found. In colour when young they were often bright golden, but two that Mr. Archey had from the Waitakere Eanges were almost dark brown in colour. ' The eggs were laid in clusters of from three to six in tl.a damp moss of the forest, and took 35 days to hatch. Ample food was provided for their nourishment during this stage find even when fully developed they lived for some time on the food stored in "their1 bodies.