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rani da:. 



hands joining on the breast, or more or less widely 

 separated if the male be much smaller than the female. 

 The eo-crs are laid in several masses anion o- water 

 plants. The metamorphosis takes place about three 

 months later. Hibernating larvae are, however, not 

 of unfrequent occurrence. 



In a recent paper on oviposition in frogs, Nussbaum 

 states that B. esculenta, unlike B. temporaria, does not 

 spawn in confinement. This is true in a general way 

 only, as I have myself obtained eggs from Swiss 

 specimens kept in London. 



Eggs. — Small ; vitellus measuring about 1J milli- 

 metres in diameter, brown above, yellowish below ; 

 mucilaginous envelop 7 or 8 millimetres in diameter. 



Fig. 102. 



About 5000 to 10,000 in number, forming several large 

 lumps. Embryo leaving the egg with external gills 

 and a well-developed tail, olive-brown above, yellowish- 

 white below; the gills unpigmentecl. 



Tadpole (PI. Ill, fig. 1). — Length of body once and 

 a half its width, or rather less, about half the length 

 of the tail. Nostrils a little nearer the eyes than the 

 end of the snout. Eyes on the upper surface, equi- 

 distant from the end of the snout and the spiraculum, 

 or slightly nearer the latter; the distance between the 

 eyes twice to twice and a half as great as that between 

 the nostrils, and much greater than the width of the 



