RANINAE 271 



skeletons. The ol»ject is put into a vessel, and the tadpoles 

 will soon nibble and rasp away all the edible portions, leaving 

 the skeletal framework beautifully cleaned. But they require 

 attention lest they rasp away the cartilage. 



The tadpole stage lasts three to four months ; but cold, absence 

 of sunshine, and scarcity of food delay the metamorphosis well into 

 the end of summer, or force them to hibernate in the unfinished 

 condition. They are very gregarious, and when the tadpoles of 

 several families combine, they make imposing shows. By the 

 time that their hind-limbs begin to sprout, they frequently 

 combine into large shoals, and instead of always feeding they 

 swim about in their tens of thousands, all moving in the same 

 direction, and making almost regular evolutions. Mill-ponds 

 with steep banks are good places for watching these peculiar 

 habits. The tadpoles reach a considerable size, the total length 

 averaging 2|- inches, or some 60 mm. the tail taking up ^ of 

 the whole length. Specimens which measure more than 3 inches 

 are rare. The baby- frogs hop on land while still provided with 

 a stumpy tail ; when this is resorbed the little creature is 

 scarcely half-an-inch long, and for the rest of the available 

 season leads a rather more terrestrial life than ever after. 



Ux Africa semper aliquid novi ! Quite recently Boulenger 

 has received a consignment of Anura from the French Congo, 

 amongst which were several new, remarkable genera, notably 

 Triclwhatrachus and Gam'psostconyx. Both are true Eanidae. 

 Pupil vertical, with vomerine teeth. Omosternum with a bony 

 style. The outer metatarsals are bound together. In Tricho- 

 hatrachus rohustus the toes are webbed, and both sexes have the 

 flanks and corresponding portions of the thighs covered with 

 numerous darkly pigmented, filamentous, cutaneous excrescences ; 

 these are several millimeters in length, giving the flanks and 

 thighs a " hairy " appearance. Mr. F. F. Laidlaw has examined 

 these structures. Their most remarkable feature is the presence 

 in them of a great number of ordinary flask-shaped cutaneous 

 glands, whilst such glands are scarce on the surrounding skin. 

 They differ in no way from those seen in sections of the skin of 

 the Common Frog. The fibrous connective tissue is dense and 

 vascular ; the pigment - cells are most plentiful at the base. 

 Contrary to expectation no nerve-endings were found in these 

 filaments. 



