;r 51 



Singular production of its young. 



THE PIP A. 



THIS animal, which at first view appears ex- 

 tremely hideous and deformed, is considerably 

 larger than the common toad, has a flattish body, 

 and a somewhat triangular head. The mouth is 

 very wide, and furnished at the edges or corners 

 with a kind of cutaneous appendage. The fore- 

 feet have four long and thin toes, each divided 

 at the tip into four distinct parts, which, when 

 inspected with a magnifier, are found to be each 

 again obscurely subdivided almost in a similar 

 manner: the hind feet have five toes united by a 

 web. 



The pipa is a native of Surinam , ; and, accord- 

 ing to Ferman, is only calculated for having but 

 one breed ; the number of young produced by a 

 female which he observed was seventy-five ; and 

 they were all perfect in the space of five days 

 after their first appearance. In the production 

 of its young this creature affords a very singular 

 deviation from the usual course of nature, and 

 therein seems to bear considerable analogy to the 

 different species of opossum. On the back of 

 the female are formed certain cavities, opening 

 outward, and somewhat resembling the cells of a 

 bee-hive; they are of a circular form, about half 

 an inch deep, and each nearly a quarter of an 

 inch in diameter. They are at a little distance 

 from each other, and somewhat irregularly ranged. 



G 2 



