THE AMPHIBIA 245 



guished by its larger size, the external vocal sacs, the toes webbed 

 to their extremities, and a prominent glandular patch of skin 

 behind the eye, This frog croaks much more than the common 

 species, numbers collecting together and croaking in concert 

 throughout the night. The American Bull Frog is also well known 

 for its vocal powers, and in the breeding season hundreds collect 

 together and keep up a tremendous croaking that can be heard 

 for a long distance. 



The curious so-called " Flying" Frogs are natives of the islands 

 of south-eastern Asia and Madagascar, where they live amidst the 

 luxuriant tropical foliage. Wallace in his " Malay Archipelago " 

 states that one of these little frogs was brought to him by a Chinese 

 workman, who assured him that he had seen it come down in a 

 slanting direction from a high tree, as if it flew. Dr. Hans Gadow, 

 who has measured the specimens brought home by Wallace, and 

 now in the national collection, gives the greatest length of body 

 as 2| inches, and the area of surface covered by the expanded 

 hands and feet as about 3 square inches (18-8 square centimetres). 

 It is stated that the great enlargement of the fully- webbed hands 

 and feet helps to sustain the little frog in its passage through the 

 air as it leaps from branch to branch. 



The Tree Frogs gain their popular name from their habit of 

 life, for they are seldom seen upon the ground, leading for the 

 most part a truly arboreal life, for which they are wonderfully 

 adapted both by coloration and modification of the toes for clasp- 

 ing the branches and foliage. The little European Tree Frog 

 (Hyla arborea) is bright green on the upper surface of its body, and 

 paler beneath. It is a pretty little creature, and as it rests quietly 

 among the leaves is very difficult to detect, its coloration blending 

 wonderfully with its surroundings. The Pouched Tree Frog of 

 Central America is of interest for the curious brood-pouch which 

 is present on the back of the female. In the breeding season the 

 attendant male gathers up the eggs as they are laid by the female, 

 and with the help of his hind legs places them in the pouch on 

 her back, where the tadpoles undergo the whole of their metamor- 

 phosis; Probably the most extraordinary method of rearing the 

 young is that of Darwin's Frog (Rhinoderma Darwini), in which, 

 as the female extrudes her eggs, the male passes them into his 

 enlarged vocal sac, wherein the young undergo their metamorphosis, 



