DISCOGLOSSIDAE I 57 



get the right scent, and then they withdraw from the Bombinator, 

 which has remained motionless, well knowing that quick move- 

 ments, or a show of escape, would most likely induce the tortoise 

 to a hasty snap, with consequences to be regretted by both. 



After they have been handled frequently, they do not readily 

 perform, but simply lie still, or hop away. Miss Durham ex- 

 perienced considerable difficulty in inducing her tame specimens 

 to assume and to keep up the correct warning attitude. The 

 statement that they " turn over on the back " is a fable, graphic- 

 ally fixed in various illustrated works. 



It has been said that these two species are diurnal and 

 thoroughly aquatic. Tliey are certainly active in the daytime, 

 sing in full sunshine, and spend most of their time in the water, 

 but they display much more liveliness towards the evening and 

 during the night, especially when there is a moon. My fire-toads 

 live by no means always in. the water, but conceal themselves 

 in the daytime under stones, while they are regularly all astir 

 at night in search of worms and all kinds of small insects. 



The spawning takes place several times during the spring 

 and summer. The amplexus is lumbar, and the eggs are 

 extruded singly. They sink to the bottom, or are attached to 

 water-plants. The oviposition takes a long time, perhaps the 

 whole night, and several dozen eggs, not hundreds as in the 

 allied genera, make a set. The egg, with its swollen gelatinous 

 capsule, is large for so small a creature, namely 7-8 mm. in 

 diameter. The embryos escape after a week, and the tadpoles 

 reach two inches in total length. Those of B. igneus have a 

 triangular mouth, but in B. pachypus this is elliptical, as in 

 Alytes and Discoglossus. Metamorphosis is completed in the 

 same autumn ; the little toad is then about 1 5 mm. long, and 

 differs from the adult by the absence of the conspicuous colora- 

 tion of the under parts. In reasonable conformity herewith it 

 does not take up the warning attitude. The colour appears 

 gradually during the second year, but full growth is generally 

 not reached until the third year. They do not hibernate in the 

 water, but hide on land out of the reach of frost. 



Alytes. — The tympanum is distinct, the pupil vertical, the 

 omosternum is absent. The only two species live in South- 

 western Europe. ]'he male attaches the eggs to its hind limbs, 

 and nurses them until they are hatched. 



