202 ANURA CHAP. 



like gold, and in other moods the whole upper surface is mottled 

 blue, green, and brown. My specimens often went into the 

 water and did not climb. The food is said to consist chiefly of 

 other small frogs in preference to insects. 



Nototrema differs from Hyla in so far as the female has a 

 pouch on the back for the reception of the eggs. This bag is 

 formed by an infolding of the skin ; it opens backwards in front of 

 the vent, it has a sphincter and is permanent, although it distends 

 to larger dimensions when in use. An initial stage of such a pouch 

 is possessed by Hyla goeldii (Fig. 38). The pupil is horizontal, 

 the tongue can be protruded but little ; the tympanum is free, 

 and the adhesive discs of the fingers and toes are well developed. 

 These " marsupial frogs," of which about half-a-dozen species are 

 known, live chiefly in the tropical forest-region of South America, 

 notably from Peru to Venezuela. 



N. marsupiatum is green with darker blue-green spots, or 

 with longitudinal patches which are each surrounded by a 

 whitish or yellow seam of little dots. The limbs have cross-bars. 

 Total length about 2j to 3 inches. The eggs of this species 

 are comparatively small and numerous. The very small tadpoles 

 have no external gills, and escape from the pouch to finish their 

 metamorphosis in the water. 



N. testudineum, about 3 inches in length, is of a uniform lead- 

 colour, but is lighter beneath. The skin of the back is studded 

 with stellate calcareous deposits, a peculiarity which is alluded 

 to in the specific name. 



N. oviferum is brown above, with darker patches on the sides 

 of the body and with cross-bars on the limbs. The last two 

 species and N. fissipes of Brazil, near Pernambuco, carry their 

 young in the pouch until the metamorphosis is completed. This 

 long nursing-period necessitates a great amount of food-yolk in 

 the eggs, and this enlargement in turn implies a considerable 

 reduction in their number. The female's load consists of about 

 fifteen eggs only, but these are of a great size, namely one -eighth 

 of the length of the mother's body. 



N. pygmaeum, in Venezuela, is a tiny creature. The female, 

 just one inch in length, carries only from four to seven eggs. It 

 looks then "as if it carried a sac filled with a few gigantic balls." 

 This species is further worthy of note on account of the opening 

 of the brood-pouch, which is a longitudinal slit, whence a kind 



