180 Mr. G. A. Boulenger on 



become attaclied to the liind limbs of the males after they 

 have been a few minutes iu water, which is absurd, we are 

 told a few pages further (4, p. 101), when the feat is required 

 for the sake of establishing the Meiidelian segregation, that 

 it can be done : — "Die ISchnur enthielt die fiir Al^fes enovme 

 Menge von 112 soldier Eier. Es zeigte sich, dass sie, die ja 

 eigentlich llir Wasser bestimmt waren (wo die Kopulation 

 audi stattgefunden hatte, aber das Mannchen war sogleich 

 mit seiner Biiide herausgekletteit), tatsachlich in der Luft 

 nicht mehr so gut fortkamen." 



A further remark concerning the desiccation of the egg- 

 capsules, w-hich is stated to take place when the eggs aie 

 nursed on land. I have observed two cases of males already- 

 laden taking charge of a second burden, and in the operation 

 the strings of tlie first brood, at least a day or two old, 

 stretched out witii the same facility as the others. 



Now as to the oviposition and development in water. Tliis 

 is what we are told (1, p. 70) happened in the case of some 

 specimens received from Westphalia in April 1905 : — " Die 

 herausbeforderten Eierschniire lagen dann . . . . im Wasser- 

 becken. Ich iiberraschte die Tiere audi etliche Male*, wie sie 

 hier die Copulation vollzogen. Das Wasserbecken war nur 

 drei Zentimeter hoch angetiillt, so dass sie nicht, wie es z. B. 

 die Erosche in der Natur freiwillig tun, wahrend der Begat- 

 tung zu schwimmen brauchten. Der Vorgang stimmte, was 

 Stelluiigen und Bewegungen anbetrifEt, gut mit der genauen 

 Besclireibung de Tlsle-'s iiberein, nur aber, wie bemerkt, mit 

 der wesentlichen Abweichung, dass hier kein Aufladen der 

 Eier seitens des Mannchens stattfand, sondern dass die dicke, 

 aus zwei miteiniinder verschmolzenen Schniiren entstandene 

 Laichmasse ohneweiteres liegen blieb/^ And these eggs laid 

 in the water developed quite well, and much quicker than 

 those on land (1, p. 75) : — " Schon nacli 13 bis 15 Tagen, 

 vom Tag der Besamung an gerechnet, schwarmen aus den im 

 Wasser liegenden AIi/tes-Eiiein die Larven hervor.^' 



I could hardly, at the time I first read it, believe such a 

 statement, having, as have others^ repeatedly tried to rear 

 Alytes eggs in water, but without success. In order to satisfy 

 myself once more, I made a further experiment in Belgium 

 in 1912, under what I thought the best conditions, bearing in 

 mind what Kammerer had written, taking the eggs from 



* A few times is strange, considering tliat there were only fourteen 

 males altogether, two of which took charge of eggs (see above, p. 176), 

 whilst other broods lay scattered " iiberall im Behjilter herum," on the 

 earth, above and under moss, sticking to stones, or iu the water. 



