NOTES ON BATRAOHIANS OF THE PARAGUAYAN OHAOO. 815 



Breeding Habits. — On November SOth, 1896, I caught 

 six of these frogs at the edge of a shallow pool late at night, 

 and put them with some leaves in a tin until the morning. 

 Next morning I discovered batches of white eggs, in masses of 

 firm jelly, lying about at the bottom of the tin. I put some of 

 these in water, and some I kept damp. Those which I put in 

 water died immediately ; those which I kept merely moist I 

 watched segmenting and developing until December 5th, and 

 preserved several eggs of each stage, but on this day the last 

 of the embryos died, and I tried hard to get some more, and to 

 find out how they were laid in nature. 



On December 31st I discovered a small leaf overhanging a 

 pool of water, and containing a batch of the AVollunnkukk 

 eggs. At this same pool I found within the next three weeks 

 about twenty leaves enclosing batches of eggs, in no case more 

 than two feet from the water. 



On January 15th I had an opportunity of watching the 

 process of egg-laying. About 11 p.m. I found a female carry- 

 ing a male upon her back, wandering about apparently in 

 search of a suitable leaf. At last the female, climbing up the 

 stem of a plant near the water's edge, reached out and caught 

 hold of the tip of an overhanging leaf, and climbed into it. 

 With their hind legs both male and female held the edges of 

 the leaf, near the tip, together, while the female poured her 

 eggs into the funnel thus formed, the male fertilising them as 

 they passed (fig. 35). The jelly in which the eggs were laid 

 was of sufficient firmness to hold the edges of the leaf together. 

 Then moving up a little further more eggs were laid in the 

 same manner, the edges of the leaf being sealed together by 

 the hind legs, and so on up the leaf until it was full. 



Asa rule two briar leaves were filled in this way, each con- 

 taining about 100 eggs. 



The male hurried away immediately the laying was over, 

 and he did not embrace the female except during the act of 

 laying eggs. The time occupied in filling one leaf was three 

 quarters of an hour. 



Life History. — Development proceeds very rapidly ; within 



