CORRESPONDENCE WITH BRA UN. 41 



Dr. Leuckart's questions concerning the eggs 

 he had sent him, and some farther account of 

 his own observations upon them. 



AGASSIZ TO BRAUN. 



NEUCHATEL, June 20, 1827. 



. . . Now you shall hear what I know of 

 the " Hebammen Krote." How the fecunda- 

 tion takes place I know not, but it must needs 

 be the same as in other kinds of the related 

 Bombinator ; igneus throws out almost as 

 many eggs hanging together in clusters as 

 obstetricans ; fuscus throws them out from it- 

 self in strings (see Roseld's illustration). ... I 

 have now carefully examined the egg clusters 

 of obstetricans ; all the eggs are in one string 

 and hang together. This string is a bag, in 

 which the eggs lie inclosed at different dis- 

 tances, though they seem in the empty space 

 to be fallen, thread-like, together. But if you 

 stretch the thread and press the eggs, they 

 change their places, and you can distinctly see 

 that they lie free in the bag, having their own 

 membranous envelopes corresponding to those 

 of other batrachian eggs. Surely this species 

 seeks the water at the time of fecundation, 

 for so do all batrachians, the water being in- 

 deed a more fitting medium for fecundation 



