210 REPTILES AND BATRACHIANS 



the surroundings, some being green, others oHve, olive- 

 brown, or grey in colour. 



The " Flying " Frog, R. nigropalmatus, which inhabits 

 Borneo, has both hands and feet entirely webbed, these 

 being said to be used by the creature as parachutes, the 

 frog having been observed to come down to the ground, 

 as if flying, from great heights. 



R. schlegelii, of Japan, which has the fingers only about 

 half webbed, is of particular interest on account of its 

 remarkable breeding habits. The male and female con- 

 struct underground chambers in the damp earth on the 

 edge of flooded rice fields, about a foot above the surface 

 of the water. On the completion of the operation the 

 female produces a secretion from the vent which she beats 

 up with her feet, thus forming a frothy mass, and in which 

 the eggs are deposited. Both male and female then leave 

 the burrow, not, however, as one would suppose, by the 

 way they came in, but by an obliquely directed tunnel 

 leading to the water, which they have previously ex- 

 cavated, and by means of which the tadpoles, when they 

 hatch, find their way out. 



R. malabarius, of India, and R. reticulatus, of Ceylon, 

 have likewise peculiar breeding habits. In the former the 

 eggs are deposited in nests of froth attached to leaves 

 overhanging the water in which the larvae, when at a 

 sufficiently advanced stage, fall, while in the latter they 

 are carried about by the female attached to her belly, to 

 which they adhere. 



The family Dendrobatid^, which is represented by 

 three genera, one in South America, one in West Africa, 

 and one in Madagascar, is separated from the previous one. 



