82 THE RING OF NATURE 



known Surinam toad has the eggs placed on her 

 back, and there the young remain each in a 

 separate cell through the tadpole stage and until 

 they reach the adult form. In Darwin's frog the 

 onus of nursing is transferred to the male, who 

 carries the eggs in a pouch reached through the 

 mouth till the young frogs are able to take care of 

 themselves. A tree frog of South America has a 

 similar pouch, this time on the back of the female ; 

 another provides a slimy mass for the eggs in 

 a nest of bamboo leaves, and there the whole 

 tadpole stage is passed; in a third species the 

 tadpoles attach themselves by their sucking 

 mouths to their mother, and share her fortunes till 

 they get their four legs. All these habits have 

 no doubt been created by some such force of 

 circumstances as the drying up of the ponds in 

 which the great mass of amphibians spend the 

 infantine stage of their career. 



A short rapid rattle down in the wood reminds 

 you of the roar of a fallow buck. It is not, however, 

 the song season of that animal, and I know the 

 instrumentalist. I can see his instrument in the 

 gleam of a dead white branch among the green 

 stipple of the live trees. With a glass I should be 

 able to make out the musician from here, but it 

 is not at all likely that he will have finished before 

 we get down to the wood. 



The rattle, repeated faithfully every two or 

 three minutes, grows louder and louder. The 

 branch chosen is like a violin in its vibrant response, 



