TAILLESS BATRACHIANS 225 



with yellow and crimson. Apart from its large parotoid 

 glands, the skin is perfectly smooth. 



The Eastern Toad, B, asper, a very abundant species 

 in the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, grows to almost 

 as large a size as the Giant Toad of South America. The 

 upper parts, which are uniform brown or blackish, spotted 

 with crimson during the breeding season, are covered all 

 over with large spinose tubercles. According to Annandale 

 it is generally found near human dwellings, occasionally 

 penetrating into thick forest country. The young are 

 much lighter in colour than the adults, and are often 

 found in large numbers on the banks of rapid mountain 

 streams, where they harmonize so well with the sand that 

 they are difficult to detect except when in motion. 



Several of the arboreal toads of the African and Southern 

 Asian genus Nectophryne, which may be distinguished by 

 the fact that the tips of the digits are dilated into regular 

 discs, bring forth active young, the metamorphosis being 

 undergone in the uterus. Dr. Krefft, who has kept 

 specimens of N. tornieri, of East Africa, informs us that a 

 specimen of his after pairing acquired extremely distended 

 flanks, under the skin of which the wriggling movements of 

 the larvae could be clearly noticed. 



Most of the two hundred frogs which make up the 

 family Hylid^ are arboreal, and have the tips of the 

 fingers and toes more or less dilated ; the terminal pha- 

 langes are slender and claw-shaped. The upper jaw is 

 toothed. The sacral vertebrae are dilated. 



In Hyla, the type genus, the fingers may be free or 

 webbed ; the toes are webbed, usually to a considerable 

 extent. The pupil is horizontal. The tongue is entire 



