276 FROGS AND TOADS. 



Another American genus, containing a very large number of 

 species, is that of the leaf-frogs (Hylodes), which deserves mention 

 on account of the peculiar reproduction of one of its representatives, the so-called 

 Antillian frog (H. martinicensis). These frogs differ from the group to which the 

 last genus belongs by the absence of a bony style to the breast-bone, and the 

 un webbed hind- toes ; while they are further characterised by the expansion of the 

 tips of the toes into smooth discs, the horizontal pupil of the eye, and the presence 

 of teeth on the vomer. The Antillian frog, or, as it is locally termed, coqui, is an 

 inhabitant of several of the West Indian Islands, and may be recognised by its 

 warty under surface ; the general colour of the upper-parts being grey or brownish, 

 with indistinct darker marking on the head and back, and crossbars on the hind- 

 legs ; while there is a large dark mark on the temporal region, and another near 

 the muzzle. The remarkable fact connected with the reproduction of this species 

 is that such transformations as are undergone by the larvae take place within the 

 large eggs ; the creatures emerging from which undergo no further alteration, with 

 the exception of the absorption of the remnant of the tail. In this respect the 

 coqui resembles the sharp-nosed frog of the Solomon Islands. 



As the typical representatives of the family, brief mention must 

 be made of the piping frogs (Leptodactylus) of Central and South 

 America, which differ from the preceding genera in having a dagger-like bony 

 style to the breast-bone ; and having the pupil of the eye horizontal, and the teeth 

 on the vomers placed behind the apertures of the inner nostrils. Externally, these 

 frogs closely resemble the ordinary European water-frogs, with the exception that 

 the hind-toes are not webbed. In the males the humerus is expanded into a large 

 flange-like plate ; and in the breeding-season the whole fore-limb is much swollen 

 for the purpose of firmly holding the female. These frogs derive their names 

 from their loud pipe-like croaking, which varies in tone and intensity according 

 to the species. Some are noteworthy from their habit of digging a hole in the 

 ground near water, and lining it with a layer of scum, upon which the eggs are 

 deposited, and left to hatch. The nests seem, however, always to be so placed 

 that at a certain season they will be flooded by the rise of the neighbouring water. 

 When first hatched, the tadpole is not unlike that of the frog, although with a 

 relatively smaller tail ; and when the nest becomes flooded the mode of life of its 

 occupants is similar to that of the ordinary frog-larvae. 



THE TOADS. 

 Family BUFONID^!. 



Passing over the unimportant family of the Dendrophryniscidce, including 

 only two small South American genera, our next representatives of the 

 suborder are the true toads, which constitute a family distinguished by. the 

 absence of teeth in both jaws, and the expansion of the extremities of the 

 transverse processes of the sacral vertebra. The vertebrae resemble those of 

 the typical frogs, and there is the same absence of ribs as in the latter. The 

 terminal joints of the toes are either blunt, or T-shaped ; and in only two out of 



