356 THE VIVARIUM. 
When the female has got all her family out in the world, she 
frees herself of the superficial layer of her skin by rubbing it off 
against stones or aquatic plants. Nevertheless, little pits are still 
left to mark the positions occupied by the cells. 
The Surinam Toad while in captivity in this country should be 
kept in a large tank filled with warm water, and containing 
suitable aquatic weed. These Toads, helped by their colour, are 
very clever at hiding themselves. It is, therefore, by no means 
an easy matter, very often, to find them in their Vivarium. 
Owing to the fully-developed webbing of their toes they are fast 
swimmers. 
The Surinam Toad has a flat, triangular head, a very small eye 
with round pupil, one or two short tentacles on the upper lip, in 
front of the eye; no teeth, a smooth palate, no tympanum, a 
large flap of skin at each angle of the mouth, and sometimes 
another at the end of the snout; very slender, free fingers of un- 
equal lengths, each ending with four radiating appendages ; toes 
very fully webbed, and devoid of nails; the skin is covered with 
small tubercles. The colour of the animal above is olive-brown, 
and below a lighter shade of the same colour, sometimes spotted 
with white, and sometimes there is a black stripe along the 
middle of the belly. 
It is said that the natives of the countries in which this strange 
Toad is found are accustomed to eat it, and to say that its flesh 
is very good. Though it is, when fully grown, of large size, I 
cannot believe that some authorities are correct in asserting that 
it ‘“‘ sometimes grows to a length of nearly 1ft.” 
Besides the Frogs and Toads already described in these articles 
there are many others which no doubt would be equally interest- 
ing and suitable for confinement in the Vivarium, but which are 
not so easily procured in this country as those mentioned. There- 
fore, because of their rarity here, nothing has been said, for 
instance, of the Bornean Flying Frog (Rhacophorus pardalis), a 
Batrachian which is reported to have the power, owing to the 
great development of the webbing of both feet and toes, of sailing 
or gliding through the air from the top of a lofty tree to the 
ground. Or of the short-headed Frogs of the family Breviceps, 
animals which are able to puff out their bodies to such an extent 
a 
