THE OBSTETRIC FROG. 



357 



growth 



The Jakie* is a greenish Frog spotted with brown, and has irregular linear markings of a brown 

 Lint along its thighs and legs. It is from Guiana, and is said to have the largest Tadpole of all the 

 Frogs. So large, relatively, is this larval form, that when the tail is absorbed no increase of 

 in the adult occurs. 



A large Frog, with the upper eyelids ending in a kind of triangular horn, from each of which a 

 ridge runs down the sides and back to above the hinder extremity, is sometimes thirty-five lines 

 long. It belongs to the genus Ceratophrys.t It is a Brazilian kind, and little is known about its 

 life. Mimetic, as it were, of this curious Frog is a genus whose species have also the upper eyelids 

 prolonged, and which have a broad and short body. The skull is marked with long ridges ; there are 

 folds of skin on the neck, and the limbs are oi moderate length, the toes being distinctly but shortly 

 webbed. The iris is a golden-brown, and the pupil is vertically rhomboidal. The body is much blotched 

 with white and black, and there are two species. One has a prominence on the skull,]: and lives in 

 Borneo, Malacca, and Sumatra, and the other, without the structure, is restricted to Java and 

 Ceylon. They have the tympanum hidden, and really belong to a small sub-family, of which the 

 Painted Discoglossus of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean is the type. They have the 

 tongue almost circular in outline. 



A beautiful little Frog with a body about one inch and a quarter long, having a small head and 

 a short and thick body, is of a dove-colour above, and is exquisitely marked with oblong spots and 

 bars of dark brown margined with yellow. It has a small mouth, and the palate is armed with two 

 groups of exceedingly minute teeth between the posterior nostrils. It has pretty eyes, and the lower 

 surface is silvery white. It is a South Carolina Frog, and takes to the dry cornfields, and appears to 

 like land, and, indeed, Holbrook states that one thrown into the water did not know how to swim. 

 It has not the web on the hind feet, and in this it resembles some South American, and West Indian 

 species, nor has it parotid glands. They all belong to the genus Cystignathus. It forms a sub-family. 



The second family of the Oxydactyles is called the PELOBATID.E, and it contains some kinds which 

 are to a certain extent intermediate between the Frogs and Toads. They have the skin more or less 

 warty or glandular. The body is plump 

 and squat, but the upper jaw has teeth. 

 Usually the membrane of the tympa- 

 num and its cavity is deficient, and 

 the pupil is often vertical. They lay 

 their eggs in strings like the Toads, and 

 most of them are terrestrial, and make 

 holes and burrows in the earth, only 

 seeking the water during the egg-laying 

 season. 



The first example || is one which 

 has a distinct tympanum and a small 

 pai'otid gland, but it has no vocal sac. 

 It has short limbs and large glands 

 around the ears. The toes have half 

 webs, and it is grey in colour with 

 spots. It is remarkable for boring long 

 burrows, and for the curious practice 

 of the male, which has a very sonorous 

 voice, of assisting the female to get rid 



of her eggs. These are large and in strings, and he attaches them to his thighs with a glutinous 

 secretion. He buries himself until the eyes of the little Tadpoles can be seen beneath their envelope, 

 and shortly afterwards he seeks a stagnant pool and plunges in. The Tadpoles soon burst forth and 

 swim away. It is a small Frog, and is to be found in the environs of Paris. 



Another kind has webs to its hind feet. The tympanum and its cavity are deficient, and the tongue 



MALE OBSTETRIC FKOG. 



Pscudis paradoxa. f 



Meyalophrys montana. 



Ceratophrys cornuta. 



J Meyalophrys nasula. 

 Alytes obstetricans. 



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