PARENT AND OFFSPRING 



117 



as to form a shallow pouch with an opening towards 

 the rear. The male seizes the eggs as they issue 

 from the oviduct (the passage leading from the ovary 

 outwards), and after fertilizing them, he thrusts them 

 with his hind-foot into the sac. Here they grow 

 rapidly until the back of the female becomes swollen." 

 In another species of frogs the male is furnished with 

 a pouch on his throat. " As soon as he has fertilized 



FIG. 42. MIDWIFE TOAD. 



(From " The Infancy of Animals," by W. P. Pycraft) 



the eggs, he stuffs them into this pouch, where they 

 grow and spread along the skin of the belly until the 

 whole under surface of the belly is full of them. 

 Remarkable, too, is the case of the midwife-toad. 

 When the eggs, which are attached to one another by 

 a thread as if on a string, have come from the female, 

 the male fertilizes them and winds the string of eggs 

 round his hind-legs. Thus laden, he conceals himself in 



