438 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
in the marsupial frog Gastrotheca marsupiata. In others, such as 
Cryptobatrachus evansi, the female carries the eggs exposed on the 
back where they go through their development. In other hylids as- 
signed to the subfamily Hylinae, the life history is less modified, but 
even here there are specializations. In the Central and South Ameri- 
can genus Phyllomedusa, for example, the male clasps the female while 
she moves about through the trees and selects a leaf over water on 
which to deposit her eggs. While spawning, the pair move slowly 
forward from the tip of the leaf toward the stalk, folding the leaf 
into a nest and filling it with eggs and foam. The two ends of the 
leaf are left open. In this foamy mass the eggs develop into tadpoles 
which then fall through the hole in the end of the leaf into the water 
below. In Hyla decipiens likewise the eggs are laid in a gelatinous 
mass on a leaf overhanging sluggish water. Upon hatching, the 
larvae break free and fall into the water. 
Hyla rosenbergi and Hyla faber build basins of mud on or near the 
edge of pools. In these basins they deposit their eggs. The tadpoles 
have enormous gills with which they adhere to the surface film of 
these basins. With the rise of water following the rains, the tadpoles 
make their way into the body of the pool or stream. 
In Hyla goeldi the eggs are carried on the back of the female until 
ready to hatch, at which time the mother goes and sits in the water 
while hatching progresses, 
In Jamaica, all the species of Hyla have specialized breeding habits. 
They deposit their eggs in the little water held at the base of the leaves 
of “wild pines” or bromeliads. Here the little tadpoles hatch out and 
start through their development. Food is quite scarce in this environ- 
ment and the tadpoles have become specialized for feeding upon the 
eggs laid either by the mother or some other female. In some forms, 
at least, they may eat the eggs of other species, but certainly in Hyla 
brunnea it can be demonstrated that they eat the eggs of their own 
species, for in certain parts of the Blue Mountains where I have ob- 
served this behavior, brunnea is the only Hyla present. Not only do 
the tadpoles eat the eggs of their own species, but, in all probability, 
they eat the tadpoles of the same clutch. As one watches a develop- 
ing nest, in the early stages there are many tadpoles present, but as 
time goes on the tadpoles become fewer and fewer, so that by the time 
transformation is about to take place perhaps less than half a dozen 
living tadpoles are left to transform. The reduction in teeth and the 
extremely long tails of these tadpoles are presumably modifications 
for existence in this environment. Similar egg-eating tadpoles have 
been described for a continental genus of hylid, Anotheca, of Mexico 
and Central America. 
Many of the hylas do, however, have the habit of breeding in open 
water with the unprotected eggs transforming through the tadpole 
