182 



THE AQUARIUM, JULY, 1895. 



stone or plant-stem, and conies out in 

 all the glory of a brand-new skin. 

 During the non-breeding season these 

 toads become much flattened, and 

 seem to pass the whole of their time 

 in water. 



" The Surinam toad is, however, by 

 no means the only South American 

 representative of its order whose nur- 

 sery arrangements are peculiar ; a con- 

 siderable number of frogs and toads 

 from the warmer regions of the New 

 World having ideas of their own as to 

 the proper method of bringing up a 

 young family. . . . 



" According to a communication re- 

 cently made by Dr. Geldi, of Rio de 

 Janeiro, to the Zoological Society, the 

 tree-frogs of the genus Hyla, inhabit- 

 ing that part of Brazil, show consider- 

 able diversity in regard to nursing hab- 

 its, although none of them has any 

 part of its own body modified into a 

 nursery. One species, for instance, 

 builds nests of mud on the shallow 

 borders of pools, wherein the eggs and 

 tadpoles are protected from enemies ; 

 while another kind lays its eggs in a 

 slimy mass attached to withered banana 

 leaves, the young remaining in this 

 nest until they have joassed through 

 the tadpole stage. In a third species, 

 on the other hand, the larval stages 

 are hurried through before hatching, 

 the female carrying a load of eggs on 

 her back, where they remain until de- 

 veloped into perfect frogs. 



''The female of Darwin's frog (727z?'«- 

 oderma Darivini), from Chile, has, 

 however, 'gone one better' than all 

 her allies; for, not only does she get her 

 eggs and young safely carried about 

 until they are fit to take care of them- 

 selves, but she has actually shifted the 

 onerous task of taking care of them to 

 her consort. Whereas there is nothing 



remarkable about the structure of the 

 female of this frog, the male has a 

 capacious pouch underlying the whole 

 of the lower surface of the body, which 

 communicates with the exterior by 

 means of a pair of apertures opening 

 into the mouth on each side of the 

 tongue. As soon as his partner has 

 deposited her eggs, the male frog takes 

 them in his front paws and transfers 

 them to his mouth, whence they pass 

 into the great nursing pouch, where 

 they remain in perfect security till 

 hatched into young frogs, which make 

 their way into the world by the same 



passages." 



■• 



SIAMESE FIGHTING FISH. 



Two of these strange fishes are placed 

 in the same bottle. They proceed to 

 take each other's measure, shoulder up 

 to each other in school-boy fashion, 

 and back and push around the "ring," 

 the small fins vibrating rapidly all the 

 time, and each little being quivering 

 with excitement and wrath. This goes 

 on for some minutes, until, as the spec- 

 tators are growing impatient, one fish 

 suddenly flips his head around, makes 

 a dart, and a considerable dent in his 

 adversary's tail shows at once that he 

 has got home. Henceforth there is no 

 hesitation until one or the other cries, 

 peccavi. In regular fish fights on 

 which money depends, the battle is 

 continued until one fish turns tail and 

 is chased around the bottom by the 

 other. But this is usually an affair of 

 an hour, and frequently of three or 

 four. The pluck and determination of 

 the fighters are wonderful. The ordi- 

 nary stream fish do not evince nearly 

 so much as those that have been bred 

 tod reared for the purpose. The tail 

 is the part which shows most damage, 

 for it is very easily torn ; but a good 



