SOME STRANGE NURSING HABITS 345 



and tadpoles are protected from enemies ; while another 

 kind lays its eggs in a slimy mass attached to withered 

 banana-leaves, the young remaining in this nest until they 

 have passed through the tadpole stage. In a third species, 

 on the other hand, the larval stages are hurried through 

 before hatching, the female carrying a load of eggs on 

 her back, where they remain until developed into perfect 

 frogs. Some years ago a female of this species was 

 exhibited alive at a meeting of the Zoological Society thus 

 loaded. 



It will be observed that in all the foregoing instances 

 the female parent takes charge of the eggs, either on or 

 in her own body, or in a specially prepared nest, as soon 

 as they are laid ; but there are two genera of South 

 American frogs in which it appears that, while the eggs 

 are left to themselves, the tadpoles are carried about by 

 their mother. The members of the one genus (Dendrobates) 

 are tree-frogs from Surinam and Brazil, while the other 

 species is from Venezuela, and belongs to the genus 

 Phyllobates. Here the tadpoles, which may be from a 

 dozen to eighteen in number, affix themselves to the body 

 of their mother by their sucking mouths, and are thus 

 carried about. In the case of one species of the genus 

 first named, it appears that this mode of locomotion is 

 only resorted to when the water is drying up and the 

 mother desires to convey her offspring to other pools ; but 

 in the other forms the attachment seems to be more 

 enduring. 



The female of Darwin's frog (Rhinoderma darwini\ from 

 Chili, has, however, " gone one better " than all her allies, 

 for not only does she get her eggs and young safely carried 

 about until they are fit to take care of themselves, but she 

 has actually shifted the onerous task of taking care of 



