TONGUELESS FROGS 



pole ; the life of this tadpole was cut short by alcohol, 

 and it now reposes as a " specimen " in a glass bottle 

 of spirits of wine. It ought to be added that the Pipa 

 is tongueless as well as toothless, and that on this 

 account it is referred to a group of frogs which are 

 scientifically termed the Aglossa. It is probably not 

 unrelated to the Plaathande or Cape clawed frog, 

 Xenopus, with whose peculiarities we deal on another 

 page. 



THE ADORNED CERATOPHRYS 



Had the New World been discovered when ^Esop 

 wrote his fables, and anything known of its inhabitants, 

 there is no doubt that that fabulist would have selected 

 this toad to illustrate his fable of the Frog that would 

 be an Ox. For it is not only of considerable size, 

 quite as big as a blacksmith's fist, but it puffs itself 

 out under certain circumstances productive of annoyance 

 until it is perfectly rotund, and still further increased 

 in size. Ceratophrys is a genus of amphibians with 

 several species, all of which inhabit South America. 

 There are always examples at the Zoo, so that their 

 characters can be studied at any time. Externally 

 they present the appearance of toad, that is they have 

 a peculiarly evil aspect, and are lethargic in gait, sitting 

 for the most motionless esconced in a " form " which 

 they excavate or rather push into. The term toad as 

 opposed to frog is somewhat difficult of definition, and 

 indeed cannot be used. The more edentulous members 

 of the group may perhaps be called toads ; for the 

 common toad as compared with the common frog 

 of this country, is edentulous, having no teeth on the 

 upper or lower jaws. Or a squat form with a warty 

 skin may be selected as the test. But in this case some 

 of the family Bufonidae, the toads par excellence, will 

 have to be excluded. On the whole the term toad had 



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