170 . DISCOGLOSSIDJl. 



Pairing and oviposition take place on land. The 

 male seizes the female round the waist; but during 

 impregnation, or when he proceeds to lade himself" 

 with the ova, he clasps her round the head in front of 

 the fore limbs. Males are more numerous, and often 

 dispute about the females. When he has secured un- 

 disturbed possession the male strongly bends the body 

 so as to bring his heels close to the cloacal region of 

 the female, which he proceeds to lubrify by rapid move- 

 ments of the inner toes, at times introduced into the 

 cloaca, the two feet working alternately. This sort of 

 raking consists of 1100 to 1300 strokes for the two 

 feet, divided into 15 to 21 periods of 45 to 103 strokes, 

 with intervals of two or three minutes' rest, and lasts 

 about twenty-five minutes. Then the movements sud- 

 denly stop, the female extends her hind limbs, tightly 

 embracing those of the male, which are bent at angles 

 at the knees, the tarsi erect and pressed close together ; 

 the eggs are suddenly expelled, with noise, as if by ex- 

 plosion, and fall into the rhomboidal receptacle formed 

 between the pelvic limbs and bounded behind and 

 beneath by the tarsi and feet of the male. The yellow 

 eggs, as if threaded together by elastic filaments, form 

 a large mass, two to four layers of about ten, in this 

 receptacle. 



The very moment the eggs are emitted the male 

 unclasps the waist of the female and shifts his hold to 

 the base of the head ; the body then stretched out, 

 but the legs remaining in the same position as before, 

 fecundation commences; it takes place in two or three 

 emissions at short intervals. The seminal fluid is 

 much diluted with the contents of the urinary bladder, 

 which soaks the envelops of the eggs. An interval 

 of ten to fifteen minutes' rest follows before the male 

 proceeds to attach the eggs to his legs. This is done 

 in the following manner : — Still holding his mate 

 round the head, he draws out the legs so as to stretch 

 the elastic connections between the egg's sticking to 

 his tarsi ; then, folding one of the limbs, bringing the 



