THE COMMON FEOG. 351 



the representative of the family of Pipidse, has neither tongue nor teeth on the jaws and palate. 

 Besides being huge and curiously made, it is very remarkable, for there is a portion of its life-history 

 which is very extraordinary. The back of the female is covered with soft skin, which overlies a great 

 lymphatic space, and in the breeding-season it develops cavities and ridges, and each of these sepai'ate 

 compartments contains a young Pipa undergoing its metamoi'phosis. It is very evident that each of 

 these cavities, which give the back a honeycombed appearance, has contained an egg, and the question 

 is how did the egg get into this extraordinary position. Certainly it would not be deposited there 

 by the mother, and equally certainly there is no passage from the egg-producing structures in her body 

 to the cavities. It is said that as soon as the female lays her spawn the male places it in the cavities 

 in the back of the female, and the eggs form little pits by their pressure on the skin. Probably 

 this takes place in the water. Firmin states that the female lays her eggs in sand, and that the male 

 clasps them between his hind feet, and then jumps on to the mother and disperses them over her back. 

 She then goes into the water, and the eggs are hatched there, and the tadpole state is passed 

 through in the cavities, so that in eighty-two days sixty or seventy young ones poke out their heads 

 and limbs and jump off as perfect Pipas, the mother having returned to land. Then the female 

 retires to a stony or reedy retreat in water, and changes the skin of her back. How much of this 

 is true is not quite known. 



The second family, the Dactylethrida?, has a species in Africa, but it is more Frog- than Toad-like 

 in shape. The upper jaws and intermaxillaries have teeth, and the three inner toes of the long feet 

 have claws. The species is Dactylethra capensis. 



Australia contains the other family, the Myobatrachidse, and in the species Myobatrachus para- 

 doxus there are two large teeth in the intermaxillary bones, and the passages from the ear to 

 the throat, or the Eustachian tubes, enter the gullet separately, and do not form a common canal, 

 as in the other families. Very little is known about their habits. 



THE BATEACHIANS WITH TONGUES. 



The second division, or sub-order, the Phaneroglossa, are the Anoura with tongues, and there 

 are two groups of them the Oxydactyla, which have pointed tips to their digits and toes, and the 

 Discodactyla, which have discs to them ; and these are divided into families. 



THE OXYDACTYLA. FAMILY EANID^E. 



The True Frogs, the Ranidce, form the first family, and they have a slender and longish 

 body, very long hind feet and limbs, with the long hinder toes united by a web. The upper jaw, 

 intermaxillaries, and vomer have small curved teeth, which are rarely seen on the mandible. The 

 skin is smooth and the tympanum is visible, and the pupil of the eye is round or transverse. 

 The Common Frog,* the type of the family, is of a greenish-brown, yellowish, or reddish colour, 

 with an oblong brown spot behind the eyes, and the legs have brown cross-bars. It is, as is 

 well known, found in almost all parts of Great Britain, wherever there is a river or pond, or 

 even sufficient shade to maintain the degree of moisture necessary to preserve the skin in a con- 

 dition in which it may assist in the respiration of the animal. They have been in Ireland since 

 the beginning of the eighteenth century, and probably they were artificially introduced, and 

 became acclimatised. The Frog feeds sometimes with eagerness, and captures with its rapid 

 tongue many kinds of insects, beetles, and slugs, and is an excellent friend to the gardener. 

 They assemble together in the spring, when they croak in chorus, and the sound has often 

 a very peculiar effect on a still evening; and as cold weather comes on they sink themselves 

 in the mud under the water, and Bell says often in multitudes, which are found embracing each 

 other in a torpid stale. In the spring they come forth, and the egg-laying soon begins, and 

 the Tadpole, whose life has already been noticed, turns in due time to a creature like its parent. 

 The deposit of eggs takes place at the bottom of the water, and the mother cares nothing about 

 them in future. She and the male are surrounded by a host of enemies, and snakes, birds, 

 small animals, and fish, are constantly looking out for them. The male is smaller than the 

 female, and the extreme length is about two inches and three lines from the snout to the hinder 



* Rana temper aria. 



