OBSERVATIONS. 



25 



The toad it would appear is equally, 

 or even more prolific than the frog, 

 in the Intellectual Ohserver, vol. iv. 

 p. 123, Mr. J. Couch says that he 

 took the trouble on one occasion to 

 draw out and measure one of the 

 masses recently deposited by the 

 Natter-Jack, a species of toad. He 

 found that it was at least one hun- 

 dred feet long. He further stated 

 that the eggs were in two rows 

 within a cylindrical string of mucus. 

 He does not state how many eggs 

 were contained in one linear inch ; 

 but it is highly probable that they 

 would be about the same distance 

 apart as are those of the common 

 toad, which I find to be eight in one 

 linear inch ; if this should be the 

 case, we should thus have 19,000 

 germs, speaking in round numbers, 

 in one mass. 



As may be gathered from the pro- 

 ceeding paragraph the spawn of the 

 toad is not, like that of the frog, 

 deposited in globular masses, but in 

 long cylindrical strings of mucus. 

 These strings in the common toad 

 contain a single row of eggs arranged 

 down their centre. The strings are 

 about two lines in diameter, the 

 eggs about one line. After extrusion 

 they generally assume a spherical 

 aj^pearance. 



I have not so far been able to 

 follow Mr. Couch's j)lan of actually 

 measuring one of these strings ; but 

 I have made a calculation which 



gives me very nearly the same result, 

 when we consider that there are two 

 rows in the spawn of the Natter- 

 Jack while in the common toad there 

 is only one. I have taken four 

 inches as the average diameter of 

 these masses. Now as there are 

 eight eggs in one linear inch, and 

 six strings laid side by side fill the 

 same space, we shall have for one 

 cubic inch 288 germs, and in a glo- 

 bular mass of four inches diameter 

 9,650, or rather more than half the 

 number obtained from Mr. Couch's 

 measurement in the case of the 

 Natter-Jack. 



The newts do not seem to be 

 nearly so prolific as the frog or toad ; 

 but their habit of depositing only 

 one egg at a time, and that upon a 

 submerged leaf which is afterwards 

 carefully folded round the egg 

 renders observation on this point 

 much more difficult. I have kept 

 them in confinement in my aquarium 

 and have seen as many as a dozen ; 

 but, I think, never more from one 

 female newt. Perhaps others may 

 have obtained different results. 



In their development from the 

 larval to the adult form, the hind 

 legs of the frog and toad first make 

 their appearance and afterwards the 

 front pair ; while in the tritons or 

 newts it is exactly the reverse, 

 the anterior pair appearing first 

 and afterwards the posterior. — J. 

 Hepworth, Lofthouse, Wakefield. 



