1 88 ANURA 



CHAP. 



adhesion no less than 14 grammes, with glycerine-solution 20 

 grammes, more than sufficient to suspend the frog. The sticky 

 secretion of its glands greatly enhances the adhesive power. 

 Tree-frogs, when hopping on to a vertical plane of clean glass, 

 slide down a little, probably until the secretion stiffens, or dries 

 into greater consistency. After a few days I find the glass-walls 

 of their recently cleaned cage quite dirty, covered everywhere 

 with their finger-marks. On the other hand, wet leaves or moist 

 glass - walls afford no hold. The adhesion of these frogs is 

 assisted in most cases by their soft and moist bellies, just as a 

 dead frog will stick to a pane of glass. 



All Hylidae have a voice, often very loud, and enhanced by 

 vocal sacs, which are either internal, swelling out the throat, or 

 external, paired or unpaired. 



The various Hylidae resort to all kinds of modes of rearing 

 their broods. Most of them lay many eggs, up to one thousand, 

 in the water, not coherent in strings but in clumps ; others lay 

 only a few, attach them to various parts of the body, or, as in 

 the genus Nototrema, the female receives them in a dorsal pouch. 

 These modifications will be described in connexion with the 

 different species. 



Sub-Fam. 1. Amphignathodontinae. Both upper and lower 

 jaw with teeth. 



Amphignathodon, of which only one species is known, A. 

 guentheri of Ecuador, agrees with Nototrema in all important 

 characters except that it possesses teeth in the lower jaw 

 in addition to those in the upper. There are further differ- 

 ences, but they are of degree only. The sacral diapophyses 

 are more strongly dilated and the omosternum is absent. The 

 tympanum is distinct. The pupil is horizontal ; the roundish 

 tongue is slightly free behind. The terminal phalanges are claw- 

 shaped and carry large discs. The female has a dorsal pouch 

 opening backwards. The skin of the head is involved in the 

 ossification of the cranial bones. The skin of the back is smooth, 

 slightly tubercular, non-granular below. The middle of the 

 upper eyelid carries a small, pointed, cutaneous appendage, and 

 even this little character occurs also in some species of Nototrema, 

 e.g. in N. longipes and in N. cornutum. The heel carries a 

 triangular little flap. The upper parts are olive in spirit- 

 specimens, probably green in life ; the borders of the dorsal pouch 



