FKOGS AND TOADS. 439 



that all these subsist more or less exclusively on ants and termites. A 

 large proportion of these frogs are nocturnal in their habits, and these may 

 be recognised by the vertical pupil of the eye. Although many have discs at 

 the tips of the toes, none of these are tree-haunting species. A consider- 

 able number of members of the family are, however, burrowers ; and in these 

 the hind-limbs are unusually powerful, and are also specially protected by 

 horny sheathings. Others, again, pass a large portion of their time in the 

 water. It would be profitless to give in this place the distinctive character- 

 istics of all th? genera included in this extensive family ; and attention may 

 accordingly be confined to a few which are noteworthy on account of some 

 peculiarity in the habits of their representatives. Foremost among these is 

 the Chilian Darwin's frog (Mhinoderma darwini), in which the female has 

 transferred the task of carrying and tending the eggs and young to her 

 partner. Whereas there is nothing 

 remarkable about the structure of 

 the female of this frog, the male 

 has a capacious pouch underlying 

 the whole of the lower surface of 

 the body, which communicates with 

 the exterior by means of a pair of 

 apertures opening into the mouth 

 on each side of the tongue. As 

 soon as his partner has deposited Fig. 4. DARWIN'S FROG (Rhinodenma darwini) 

 her eggs, the male frog takes 



them in his front paws and transfers them to his mouth, whence they pass 

 into the great nursing pouch, where they remain in perfect security till 

 hatched into young frogs, which make their way into the world by the same 

 passages. The tadpoles never develop gills, and this frog is the sole member of 

 its genus. Equally noteworthy are the African frogs constituting the genus 

 Breviceps. These species, which take their name from the small size and short- 

 ness of the head, would almost seem to have given rise to the fable of the ox and 

 the frog, since they hav e the singular habit of puffing out the body till the head 

 and limbs are nearly bu ried, and the creature looks almost like a ball. What 

 may be the object of this curious habit does not appear to have been ascertained. 



This family of frogs includes eight genera, all of which are confined to the 

 island of Madagascar, with the single exception of the one species constitut- 

 ing the genus Calluella, which inhabits Burma and Tenas- 

 serim. The essential distinctive features of the frogs of this Family- 



family are the presence of teeth in the upper jaw, coupled Dyscophidce. 

 with the expansion of the extremities of the transverse pro- 

 cesses of the sacral vertebra, the latter feature serving to distinguish them 

 from the members of the family Ranidce, in which there is no such expansion. 

 These frogs are very closely allied indeed to those of the preceding family, 

 and as their chief interest lies in their peculiar geographical distribution, 

 they need no further notice on this occasion. 



A large frog from the Solomon Islands technically known as Ceratobatra- 

 chus guentheri, and easily recognised by the extremely sharp point formed 

 by the tip of the nose, is regarded as forming a family 

 by itself. From all the members of the sub-order under Family 



consideration, this frog differs by having both the upper Ceratobrachidce. 

 and the lower jaw armed with a full series of teeth ; 

 and it is further characterised by the absence of expansion of the extremi- 



