290 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



yet established that Archceopteryx had biconcave vertebrae. 

 4i>, October, 1872. 



DEVELOPMENT OF A GUADALOUPE FROG. 



A French naturalist, resident in Guadalonpe, has recently 

 made some curious observations on the mode of development 

 of a small terrestrial frog, of a species common in the West 

 Indian islands {Hylodes martiiiiceoisis). It is very abundant 

 both in fully grown and very small examples ; and as the ob- 

 server could not discover any tadpoles, his curiosity was ex- 

 cited to learn whence they came. The shores of the island 

 are precipitous, and the streams all torrents, frequently dry 

 during part of the year, so that the eggs could not have been 

 deposited in these; moreover, there are no suitable lakes in 

 the island, and they could not have survived in the surf of 

 the sea. He then proceeded to examine a number of egg- 

 like bodies, common in damp places, in packets under the 

 forest leaves. They are about three to four millimeters in 

 diameter, much too large for the eg^ of such a frog. 



He discovered that these inclosed a cavity, in which he ob- 

 served a minute tadpole, with four legs and a tail, revolving 

 in the fluid which surrounded it. This communicated with 

 the air by a pore, which passed outward through an exterior 

 gelatinous enlargement. The tadpole continued its rotary 

 movements until it issued from its case, when it was dis- 

 covered to have lost its tail within a very short time. 



The observer w^ill ask whether this frog always possessed 

 this habit, or whether it was not assumed on the island taking 

 its present form and character through volcanic and other 

 phenomena. Similar modifications are to be observed in 

 tree-toads which inhabit dry regions. In two genera their 

 eggs are placed in the back [Nototrema opisthodelphys), and 

 the integument surrounds them by a fold until they are cov- 

 ered, except at the hinder end. Other tree-frogs hatch their 

 young in water which accumulates in the axils of the large 

 leaves of some palms. 



FAYKER ON THE POISON SERPENTS OF INDIA. 



In ophiology an important contribution has been published 

 by Dr. Fayrer in his monograph on the Thanatop)Mdia, or poi- 

 sonous serpents of India. This work is illustrated by many 



