REPRODUCTION 191 



Hylodes, and of a small, hard, conical protuberance at the end 

 of the snout, which, like the well-known egg-tooth of many- 

 higher vertebrates, is used to perforate the rather tough envelope 

 of the egg. 



A curious frog from the Malay Peninsula, Megalophrys 

 longipes, of the family Pelobatidze, measuring only sixty milli- 

 metres from snout to vent, is believed to deposit its ova in 

 clusters of about a dozen under damp moss or tree trunks, the 

 young emerging in the perfect condition. These eggs are 

 most remarkable as being the largest on record among frogs, 

 their diameter being thirteen millimetres. 



(2) A. Small South American frogs of the genera Dendro- 

 bates and Phyllobates, not very far remote from the typical 

 Ranids, have been repeatedly observed carrying well-devel- 

 oped tadpoles on their back. These tadpoles are essentially 

 similar in form and anatomical structure to those of our 

 European frogs, and they adhere to the back of their parent 

 by their sucker-like lips and flattened abdomen. It has been 

 observed in the case of Dendrobates trivittatus that the frog 

 spawns in water, and that the free-swimming tadpoles attach 

 themselves to the parent — which, in Phyllobates trinitatis, has 

 been ascertained to be the male. It is inferred that the 

 young are thus transported from one pool to another, an ex- 

 cellent plan to adopt in districts where the water may dry off 

 in two or three days. 



The frog in which this mode of nursing had been first 

 observed in the Guianas had been determined as Hylodes 

 lineatus, but the figure which accompanies its description 

 shows it to have been probably a Phyllobates or Dendrobates. 

 The true Hylodes lineatus has since been observed, in Peru, to 

 lay its eggs under grass far from water, and the young before 

 hatching are perfect little frogs, without even the remains of a tail. 



A somewhat similar little frog in the Seychelles, Soo- 

 glossus sechellensis, also carries its tadpoles. It is found 

 in forests at about 5000 feet altitude, where there is no still 

 water. The eggs are concealed under dead leaves, and the 

 tadpoles, as soon as hatched, place themselves, with the aid of 

 their tails, on the male's back, to which they stick partly by 

 suction, partly by a viscous secretion produced by the parent. 

 The tadpoles are not attached to the parent for transportation 



