2652 



FROGS AND TOADS 



poles are ready for hatching. He then enters the water, and the tadpoles soon 

 come forth, and swim away to take care of themselves; the hatching of the tadpoles 

 taking place from June till September. After the cares of the nursing period are 



over, the male loses his 

 voice, which is not re- 

 sumed till the following 

 February, when it is con- 

 tinued till August. The 

 males are more numerous 

 than the females, and 

 during the breeding sea- 

 son their loud croaking 

 is almost continuous. 

 From September till the 

 beginning of March the 

 habits of this sex are 

 similar to those of other 

 frogs. The lower Mio- 

 cene strata of the Conti- 

 nent have yielded remains 

 of an extinct frog belong- 

 ing to the same genus, 

 while in the rocks of the 



upper part of the same division of the Tertiary period there occurs a gigantic frog 

 belonging to the same family, which has been referred to an extinct genus, under 

 the name of Latonia. 



The other two families Amphignathodontida and Hemiphractidce 

 belonging to the present suborder are not of much importance, and 

 are represented only by a small number of genera and species from Central and 

 South America. They are, however, of some interest, from the circumstance that 

 both the upper and lower jaws are furnished with teeth, in which respect they agree 

 with the sharp-nosed frog among the members of the first suborder. 



MALE OF MIDWIFE FROG WITH CHAINS OF EGGS. 

 (Natural size.) 



Other Families 



THE TONGUELESS FROGS 



Families XBNOPODID^E and 



The members of the order hitherto considered are furnished with a well- 

 developed tongue, but in the order Aglossa, this organ is totally wanting. The 

 vertebrae resemble those of the disc-tongued frogs in having their articular cups at 

 the hinder ends, but ribs are wanting. The metacoracoids correspond in structure 

 to those of the suborder Arcifera, although the cartilages at their edges do not over- 

 lap. The tadpoles of these remarkable frogs exhibit the peculiarity of having a 

 pair of breathing pores, after the loss of the external gills, situated symmetrically 



