922 VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY OF SOUTHERN LANDS.
Land, I was enabled to trace none of the genus batracia, and was the lefs furprifed asevery where the great fcarcity, or rather pofitive nullity of water, afforded no habitationfor thefe animals, I did not however the lefs regret that I had not been able to procurea fingle one of this great family of reptiles when my flay at Paramatta enabled me tocomplete, in this refpedt, my zoological labours in New Holland.
There, in fad:, I colleded two hitherto unknown fpecies of frogs, which I de-fcribed one under the head rana puftulofa, the other under that of rana pollicifera, onaccount of its having on its hind feet a very falient appendage, which at firft fightmight be taken fora toe. The toad genus likewife afforded me two new fpecies, thebufo leucogafter, and proteus: in the firft fpecies, indeed, the belly is of a fhiningwhitenefs, and the other exhibited a lingular variety of hues. The protean toad isone of the fmalleft known, for it fcarcely meafures an inch in length; and by itspleafing and various fhades of colour it differs materially from the difgufting genus towhich it belongs.
On the banks of ftreams, in fountains, in the hollows of the cooleft rocks, and be-neath the foliage of trees, is frequently feen the magnificent fpecies of frog (rainette,)defcribed by me under the name of hyla cyanea. The whole back of this animal is ofa very lively blue-purple colour, relieved on each fide of the body by two gloffy ftripesof filver ; the belly is of a deep Pruflian blue. This fpecies is one of the largeft andhandfomeft of its kind; it is not lefs than fifteen centimiters in length* from the nofeto the extremity of its hind-legs. Among the other frogs I procured in my excurfions,there is one remarkable on account of a vaft number of black fpots, round, circledwith a white ring, and fprinkled on a ground of brown colour: I called it hylaocellata N. A third received the denomination H. nibulofa N. on account of thevaguenefs of its colour. The hyla janopoda N. is diftinguilhed by the beautiful violet-colour of its hind-feet. In the citropoda, all the joints of the hind-legs are marked bya large fpot of a lemon-colour. Inferior in fize to any I have mentioned, the hylarubeola is fprinkled over with very fmall white points, on a light wine-lees colour.Among the terreftrial and fiuvia conchas I likewife made fome interefting difcoveries,as I did alfo with refpedt to worms, and the fifh of the Paramatta river ; but l'oabundant are the new objects which prefented themfelves, that were I merely toenumerate them, I fhould be obliged to facrifice the mention of things of moregeneral importance.
The objedts of our excurfion to Paramatta being now completed, M. Bellefin andmyfelf returned to Sydney Town .
Previous to the obfervations which follow reflecting the fcarcity or almoft abfolutewant of rivers in New Holland, M. Peron fills a number of pages with the hiftory ofa Frenchman tranfported for forgery; but the relation being better adapted for theNewgate Calendar than a work of this defcription, is palfed over. Preparatory to thefeobfervations, M. Peron gives account of thofe ideas affixed in Europe to the termsftreamlet, river, large river, and torrent, at which part the tranllator refumes thework.
In Europe we apply the term ftreamlet to the union of feveral running fprings in acontinuous current of water of fmall extent, which after a limited courfe lofes itfelf,now in different refervoirs, now in the fea, but which commonly falls into othercurrents of water of fimilar nature to itfelf.
A combination of many fuch ftreamlets in one current forms a river, which, with
* Near6inches.
the