One of the most curious and interesting reptiles which I met with in Borneo was a large tree-frog, which was brought me by one of the Chinese workmen. He assured me that he had seen it come down in a slanting direction from a high tree, as if it flew. On examining it, I found the toes very long and fully webbed to their very extremity, so that when expanded they offered a surface much larger than the body. The forelegs were also bordered by a membrane, and the body was capable of considerable inflation. The back and limbs were of a very deep shining green color, the under-surface and the inner toes yellow, while the webs were black, rayed with yellow. The body was about four inches long, while the webs of each hind foot, when fully expanded, covered a surface of four square inches, and the webs of all the feet together about twelve square inches. As the extremities of the toes have dilated discs for adhesion, showing the creature to be a true tree frog, it is difficult to imagine that this immense membrane of the toes can be for the purpose of swimming only, and the account of the Chinese man, that it flew down from the tree, becomes more credible. This is, I believe, the first instance known of a "flying frog," and it is very interesting to Darwinian as showing that the variability of the toes which have been already modified for purposes of swimming and adhesive climbing, have been taken advantage of to enable an allied species to pass through the air like the flying lizard. It would appear to be a new species of the genus Rhacophorus, which consists of several frogs of a much smaller size than this, and having the webs of the toes less developed. They jump from tree to tree and use their webbed feet to glide.
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Værket er også offentlig ejendom i lande og områder, hvor ophavsrettens længde er ophavsmandens levetid plus 70 år eller derunder.
Denne skabelon skal kombineres med en licensskabelon for USA, der angiver hvorfor dette værk er offentlig ejendom i USA. Bemærk at i et mindre antal lande varer ophavsretten længere end 70 år: Mexiko har 100 år, Jamaica har 95 år, Colombia har 80 år og Guatemala og Samoa har 75 år. Dette værk er måske ikke offentlig ejendom i disse lande, som ydermere ikke afkorter beskyttelstiden til maksimalt den i hjemlandet. Honduras har en generel varighed på 75 år men der afkortes beskyttelsestiden til den i hjemlandet.
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