Aristophanis comoediae.

Pars XII also published as vol. II of the text edition, Halle, 1886. cf. Bursian's Jahresbericht, v. 71, p. 126-128.

The extravaganzas of J. R. Planché, esq., (Somerset herald) 1825-1871.

Imperfect: List of subscribers wanting.

Lines on the death of Sallie, and other pieces.

Introduction signed: K. Hopewell, Hanover county, Va.

The comedies of Aristophanes;

Paged continuously.

Nine Greek dramas /

The house of Atreus (Aeschylus) tr. by E.D.A. Morshead.- Prometheus bound (Aeschylus) tr. by E.H. Plumptre.- Oedipus, the king (Sophocles).- Antigone (Sophocles) tr. by E.H. Plumptre.- Hippolytus (Euripides).- The Bacchae (Euripides) tr. by Gilbert Murray.- The frogs (Aristophanes) tr. by B.B. Rogers.

The anatomy of the frog /

Includes bibliographies and index.

The biology of the frog,

"References" at end of most of the chapters.

Is re-feeding efficiency compromised by prolonged starvation during aestivation in the green striped burrowing frog, Cyclorana alboguttata?

We examined several morphological parameters of the gastrointestinal tract, digesta passage rates, and nutrient assimilation efficiencies of Green-striped Burrowing frogs (Cyclorana alboguttata) following prolonged fasting during three months of aestivation and compared these with frogs that had been continuously fed. Whole animal digesta passage rates were significantly reduced following three months aestivation as a result of a decreased digesta evacuation rate from the stomach. Furthermore, food was selectively retained in the small intestine for an increased time following three months of aestivation. Overall digestibility of food and nitrogen, carbon, and energy extraction efficiencies were not significantly different from control values following three months of aestivation. These findings suggest that C. alboguttata employs reduced digesta passage rates so as to maximize nutrient assimilation efficiency following prolonged food deprivation during aestivation. (C) 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Effect of aestivation on long bone mechanical properties in the green-striped burrowing frog, Cyclorana alboguttata

The green-striped burrowing frog, Cyclorana alboguttata, survives extended drought periods by burrowing underground and aestivating. These frogs remain immobile within cocoons of shed skin and mucus during aestivation and emerge from their burrows upon heavy rains to feed and reproduce. Extended periods of immobilisation in mammals typically result in bone remodelling and a decrease in bone strength. We examined the effect of aestivation and, hence, prolonged immobilisation on cross-sectional area, histology and bending strength in the femur and tibiolibula of C alboguttata. Frogs were aestivated in soil for three and nine months and were compared with control animals that remained active, were fed and had a continual supply of water. Compared with the controls, long bone size, anatomy and bending strength remained unchanged, indicating an absence of disuse osteoporosis. This preservation of bone tissue properties enables C. alboguttata to compress the active portions of their life history into unpredictable windows of opportunity, whenever heavy rains occur.

Single copy nuclear DNA markers characterized for comparative phylogeography in Australian wet tropics rainforest skinks

In order to investigate population history and demography in skinks endemic to the wet tropics of Australia, multiple nuclear DNA markers were sought. The utility of 72 primers (including 63 published intron-spanning 'CATS' primers) was tested.. Seven loci were characterized and shown to be single copy by single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis. Primers to five nuclear loci were developed, four with utility in skinks and three with utility in frogs. These observations extend the available information on intron-spanning primers for amphibians and reptiles.

Endemic infection of the amphibian chytrid fungus in a frog community post-decline

The chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has been implicated in the decline and extinction of numerous frog species worldwide. In Queensland, Australia, it has been proposed as the cause of the decline or apparent extinction of at least 14 high-elevation rainforest frog species. One of these, Taudactylus eungellensis, disappeared from rainforest streams in Eungella National Park in 1985-1986, but a few remnant populations were subsequently discovered. Here, we report the analysis of B. dendrobatidis infections in toe tips of T. eungellensis and sympatric species collected in a mark-recapture study between 1994 and 1998. This longitudinal study of the fungus in individually marked frogs sheds new light on the effect of this threatening infectious process in field, as distinct from laboratory, conditions. We found a seasonal peak of infection in the cooler months, with no evidence of interannual variation. The overall prevalence of infection was 18% in T. eungellensis and 28% in Litoria wilcoxii/jungguy, a sympatric frog that appeared not to decline in 1985-1986. No infection was found in any of the other sympatric species. Most importantly, we found no consistent evidence of lower survival in T. eungellensis that were infected at the time of first capture, compared with uninfected individuals. These results refute the hypothesis that remnant populations of T. eungellensis recovered after a B. dendrobatidis epidemic because the pathogen had disappeared. They show that populations of T. eungellensis now persist with stable, endemic infections of B. dendrobatidis.

Intraspecific and intraspecific views of colour signals in the strawberry poison frog Dendrobates Pumilio

Poison frogs in the anuran family Dendrobatidae use bright colors on their bodies to advertise toxicity. The species Dendrobates pumilio Schmidt 1858, the strawberry poison frog, shows extreme polymorphism in color and pattern in Panama. It is known that females of D. pumilio preferentially choose mates of their own color morph. Nevertheless, potential predators must clearly see and recognize all color morphs if the aposermatic signaling system is to function effectively. We examined the ability of conspecifics and a model predator to discriminate a diverse selection of D. pumilio colors from each other and from background colors. Microspectrophotometry of isolated rod and cone photoreceptors of D. pumilio revealed the presence of a trichromatic photopic visual system. A typical tetrachromatic bird system was used for the model predator. Reflectance spectra of frog and background colors were obtained, and discrimination among spectra in natural illuminants was mathematically modeled. The results revealed that both D. pumilio and the model predator discriminate most colors quite well, both from each other and from typical backgrounds, with the predator generally performing somewhat better than the conspecifics. Each color morph displayed at least one color signal that is highly visible against backgrounds to both visual systems. Our results indicate that the colors displayed by the various color morphs of D. pumilio are effective signals both to conspecifics and to a model predator.

Experimental evidence for multivariate stabilizing sexual selection

Stabilizing selection is a fundamental concept in evolutionary biology. In the presence of a single intermediate optimum phenotype (fitness peak) on the fitness surface, stabilizing selection should cause the population to evolve toward such a peak. This prediction has seldom been tested, particularly for suites of correlated traits. The lack of tests for an evolutionary match between population means and adaptive peaks may be due, at least in part, to problems associated with empirically detecting multivariate stabilizing selection and with testing whether population means are at the peak of multivariate fitness surfaces. Here we show how canonical analysis of the fitness surface, combined with the estimation of confidence regions for stationary points on quadratic response surfaces, may be used to define multivariate stabilizing selection on a suite of traits and to establish whether natural populations reside on the multivariate peak. We manufactured artificial advertisement calls of the male cricket Teleogryllus commodus and played them back to females in laboratory phonotaxis trials to estimate the linear and nonlinear sexual selection that female phonotactic choice imposes on male call structure. Significant nonlinear selection on the major axes of the fitness surface was convex in nature and displayed an intermediate optimum, indicating multivariate stabilizing selection. The mean phenotypes of four independent samples of males, from the same population as the females used in phonotaxis trials, were within the 95% confidence region for the fitness peak. These experiments indicate that stabilizing sexual selection may play an important role in the evolution of male call properties in natural populations of T. commodus.

Effect of prolonged inactivity on skeletal motor nerve terminals during aestivation in the burrowing frog, Cyclorana alboguttata

This study examined the effect of prolonged inactivity, associated with aestivation, on neuromuscular transmission in the green-striped burrowing frog, Cyclorana alboguttata. We compared the structure and function of the neuromuscular junctions on the iliofibularis muscle from active C. alboguttata and from C. alboguttata that had been aestivating for 6 months. Despite the prolonged period of immobility, there was no significant difference in the shape of the terminals (primary, secondary or tertiary branches) or the length of primary terminal branches between aestivators and non-aestivators. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the membrane potentials of muscle fibres or in miniature end plate potential (EPP) frequency and amplitude. However, there was a significant decrease in evoked transmitter release characterised by a 56% decrease in mean EPP amplitude, and a 29% increase in the failure rate of nerve terminal action potentials to evoke transmitter release. The impact of this suite of neuromuscular characteristics on the locomotor performance of emergent frogs is discussed.

Inconclusiveness of chytridiomycosis as the agent in widespread frog declines

Although there is considerable evidence to support the hypothesis that the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is the primary agent responsible for widespread declines in amphibian populations, particularly rainforest frog populations in Australia and Central America, I argue the case has not yet been made conclusively. Few specimens were collected at the time of population declines, so it may never be possible to conclusively determine their cause. It remains unclear whether the pathogen is novel where declines have occurred. Although it is not necessary that the infection be novel for it to be implicated in declines, if a preexisting pathogen has only recently caused extinctions, cofactors must be important. Whether the pattern of outbreaks represents a wave of extinctions is unclear, but if it does, the rate of spread in Australia is implausibly high for a waterborne pathogen, given the most likely estimates of epidemiological parameters. Although B. dendrobatidis is an amphibian pathogen according to Koch's postulates, the postulates are neither necessary nor sufficient criteria to identify a pathogen. The following key pieces of information are necessary to better understand the impact of this fungus on frog communities: better knowledge of the means and rate of transmission under field conditions, prevalence of infection among frog populations, as distinct from morbid individuals, and the effect of the fungus on frogs in the wild. It is crucial to determine whether there are strains of the fungus with differing pathogenicity to particular frog species and whether host-pathogen coevolution has occurred or is occurring. Recently developed diagnostic tools bring into reach the possibility of addressing these questions and thus developing appropriate strategies to manage frog communities that may be affected by this fungus.