1 88 AMPHIBIA 



The examples given hereafter will be dealt with in the 

 same order, and under the same lettering. 



(i) A. A large tree-frog (Hyla faber) known in Brazil as 

 the " Ferreiro " ( = smith) from its peculiar voice, sounding like 

 a mallet slowly and regularly beating upon a metal plate, 

 protects its progeny by building basin-shaped nurseries in the 

 shallow water of the borders of ponds. The mud is scooped 

 out by the female to a depth of three or four inches, and with 

 the material thus removed a circular wall or parapet is built 

 which emerges above the surface of the water. The frog uses 

 its webbed, flattened hands for smoothing the inside of the 

 mud wall, as would a mason with his trowel, whilst the level- 

 ling of the bottom of the basin is performed by the action of 

 both belly and hands. These nurseries, the aspect of which 

 may be compared to the crater of an extinct volcano, measure 

 nearly a foot in diameter. The eggs and early larvae, which 

 do not depart from the normal type described above, are thus 

 protected from the attacks of many aquatic insects, fishes, or 

 other batrachian larva;, at least for a time, for it is not unusual 

 for heavy rains to destroy the walls of the enclosure and thus 

 to prematurely release the larvae. 



(i) B. A still better mode of protecting the offspring during 

 the early stages of development has been adopted by a Japanese 

 tree-frog of the family Ranidae (Rhacophorus schlegelii). The 

 male and female in embrace bury themselves in the damp earth 

 on the edge of a ditch or flooded rice-field, and make a hole or 

 chamber, a few inches above water-level ; after polishing the 

 walls of this chamber, during which process the gallery by 

 which they gained access to it becomes completely obliterated, 

 oviposition begins. The female first produces from the vent a 

 secretion which, by rapid movements of the feet, is beaten up 

 into froth and afterwards, in the midst of this agglomeration 

 of air-bubbles, she deposits the eggs ; the male, who has all 

 along been clinging to her back without taking part in the 

 operation, at once impregnates them. This being accomplished, 

 the pair separate and proceed to make their way out of the 

 chamber by boring a gallery of exit ; instead of returning the 

 way they came, the tunnel which they now bore is in the side of 

 the bank and directed obliquely downwards towards the water ; 

 and this tunnel will be utilised later by the larvae to gain access 



