Gestation in Batrachians and Fishes, 43 



though the relation of the foetus to the parent becomes less inti- 

 mate than in any of the preceding cases. 



^'' Hylodes lineaius (Dum. and Bib.) is vejy common in Dutch 

 Guiana, and its peculiar habits are well known to the colonists. 

 The first specimen with young which came to my notice had 

 been preserved in alcohol, and was presented to me by Mr. G. O. 

 Wacker, residing at Osembo, on the Para Creek, Surinam, and 

 had been captured at some distance from the water. The young, 

 ten or twelve in number, though separated from the parent, he 

 assured me, when found, were attached to the back. 



"In the month of May, 1857, during an excursion to the coun-^ 

 try inhabited by the Bush negroes, above Sara Creek on the upper 

 Surinam River, I had an opportunity for the first time of seeing 

 these animals carrying their young. The grass and bushes were 

 quite wet from a recent fall of rain, and this seemed the induce- 

 ment that led them from their hiding places, for when the ground 

 was dry none had been seen. They were very quick in their 

 movements, and when alarmed went at once into the grass and 

 thick bushes. One of my companions, Mr. John Green, and 

 myself succeeded in capturing some specimens, which, as we were 

 just leaving the village, were placed at once in alcohol. In one 

 instance the larvae were retained permanently adherent to the 

 back of the parent, in consequence of the coagulation of the mucus 

 covering the surface of the body, and are still preserved in the 

 Museum of Comparative Anatomy at Cambridge. The young, 

 from twelve to twenty in number, were collected upon the back 

 of the mother, their heads directed towards the middle line. They 

 were about three-fourths of an inch in length. No limbs were 

 developed, though in some of them the rudiments of a leg existed 

 in the form of a small papilla on either side of the base of the tail. 

 No especial organ was found to aid them in adhering to the back 

 of the parent. The adhesion may have been effected by the mouth. 

 This is rendered probable by the fact that all of them had the 

 mouth in contact either with the skin of the parent or with that 

 of another larva. A. viscid mucus covering the integuments un- 

 doubtedly assisted in some measure to bring about the same re- 

 sults. However this may be, they retained their places perfectly 

 well, and were not displaced when their mother, closely pursued, 

 carried them through the grass. 



" On dissection of the young nothing was found materially dif- 

 ferent to conditions of the larvae of other Anoura. The external 



