TAILLESS BATRACHIANS 243 



induced to breed in captivity, if allowed to hibernate, 

 and the following are methods employed : During the 

 summer the Xenopus should be kept at a temperature of 

 about 80°, in an aquarium covered with earth and stones, 

 with abundance of aquatic plants, and given as much food 

 as they will eat. In the winter the temperature should 

 be allowed to sink to 55° during the day, and to about 40° 

 at night, when the frogs will become very lethargic and 

 refuse to feed. In the spring the aquarium must be raised 

 to about 70°, when a certain amount of water should be 

 drawn off morning and evening, allowed to cool, and then, 

 by means of a syphon, drawn out to a fine point, to fall 

 as spray into the aquarium, thus simulating rain. By 

 carrying out these methods Bles obtained, during the 

 months of April, May, and June, several thousand eggs 

 from his specimens. 



Xenopus calcaratus, of West Africa, is a much smaller 

 species, attaining a maximum length of two inches. It 

 is easily distinguished from the preceding by its extremely 

 minute eyes, and by the presence of a very highly developed 

 metatarsal claw, similar to those on the three inner toes. 



The Surinam Toad, Pipa americana^ has a very peculiar, 

 extremely depressed, triangular-shaped head, with one or 

 two short tentacles on the upper lid in front of the eye ; 

 a large fleshy flap is situated at the angle of the mouth, 

 and another sometimes on the snout. The jaws are tooth- 

 less. The fingers are very slender, and terminate in star- 

 like appendages. The skin is rough, being covered with 

 small tubercles. 



The Surinam Toad has become notorious on account of 

 its remarkable breeding habits, the eggs being fixed to the 

 back in small pouch-like cavities in the skin of the mother. 



