THE NATIVE FROG

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21859, 23 July 1934, Page 6

THE NATIVE FROG

SURVIVOR OF PAST

EXTREME RARITY INDICATION UNKNOWN TO EARLY MAORIS "New Zealand is a sanctuary for one or two of the worlcßs most interesting animals," said Mr. Gilbert Archey, director of the Auckland Var Memorial Museum, yesterday afternoon in the course of a lecture on the'little-known native frog. In spite of the inclement weather the lecture was very well attended and proved the popularity of the series that is being conducted on Sunday afternoons at the museum.

"New Zealand was cut off early in geological history from some northern land," continued 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 croaM''< on the approach of rain, and facetiously remarked concerning the discomfort of these "hvdromancers" in the rainv mountain districts, but it is probable that he had not seen the actual animal.

One of the moat 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 terrestial reptile. Fortunately the evolution bad 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 N«l----son, the ridges of the Coromandel Kange and the Waitakeres. Until a few years ago nothing of their breeding habits and their development . was known. More recently eggs had been collected and their hatching observed. Some 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 tadpoie stage. Again, they were poor flycatchers, and when put in water could swim only by dog-paddling. Most of them were • very small in size, being hardlj more than an inch in length although larger specimens were found! In colour when young they were often bright golden, but two that Mr. Archey had from the aitakeres were almost dark brown in colour.

The eggs were laid in clusters of from three to six in the damp moss of the forest, and these took 35 days to hatch. Ample food was provided for their nourishment during this stage and even when fully developed they lived tor some time on the food stored in their bodies