BREEDING HABITS OF FROGS AND TOADS 363 



escape into water ; if they fail to fall directly into the 

 latter, they are capable of wriggling during a shower a 

 distance of several inches along the ground, aiding them- 

 selves by a jumping motion. In the case of the tree-frog 

 of Rio de Janeiro {Hyla nebulosd) the spawn is deposited 

 in the sheath of withered banana leaves far away from 

 water ; the tadpoles undergoing the whole of their develop- 

 ment in the frothy egg-mass, and actually dying if they 

 are put into water. Here, then, we have an instance in 

 which the normal conditions of tadpole development are 

 totally changed. 



But this is by no means a solitary example. The tad- 

 poles of another Brazilian frog (Cystignathus fragilis), and 

 probably also those of a Ceylon species {Rhacophorus eqties), 

 are stated to undergo a portion of their development on 

 land. The eggs have been found in frothy masses on 

 land, those of the former species usually in grass near 

 pools, and its tadpoles have been observed under decaying 

 tree-trunks. Again, a third Brazilian frog {Cystignathus 

 mystaceus) never goes near water, even to spawn ; the 

 eggs being deposited in comparatively small numbers in 

 a hole under stones or decaying wood near the edge of 

 a pool, but above the water-level. The frothy substance 

 in which they are hatched probably serves the tadpoles as 

 food, since it diminishes in quantity as they develop. In 

 a dry season the tadpoles often remain in the nest until 

 they are of large size, but more generally they are swept 

 into the pool when its level rises after rain above the 

 normal. Masses of a green frothy spawn of about the 

 size of a rook's egg found adhering to the walls of cisterns, 

 to faces of rock overhanging water, and to moist tree- 

 trunks in Ceylon, are believed to be deposited by the frog 

 known as Polypedates maculatus. In Brazil the tadpoles of 



