CHAPTER XXII 



FROGS AND TOADS 



INGENUITY amongst the frogs and toads is mainly 

 directed towards the upbringing of their young. Every- 

 one has seen the masses of frogs' eggs, known as spawn, 

 floating on the surface of stagnant ponds in our country 

 districts. This habit of enclosing the eggs in a jelly-like 

 envelope is common to nearly all frogs. Sometimes the 

 spawn is in a single string, resembling a rosary, sometimes 

 in a double string ; at other times the eggs are laid singly 

 but still covered with the jelly, and there are many 

 occasions when a froth resembling white of egg takes 

 the place of the jelly. In the case of a few individuals 

 there is no gelatinous covering. 



One newt carries its eggs about with it, and as they are 

 large and stalked they resemble a number of toy balloons 

 on strings, in miniature. Another goes a step further in 

 the nest-building stage ; she searches about for a suitable 

 water plant and, having discovered one, she holds some 

 of the leaves together in a bunch with her legs and 

 deposits an egg with its sticky covering in the bunch of 

 vegetation. When the animal, leaving behind a single 

 egg, leaves the water plant there remains a rough-and- 

 ready "nest," composed of a gelatinous mass sticking 

 the leaves together, with a contained egg. The number 

 of eggs laid by various kinds of frogs and their allies 

 varies greatly; the species which mother their young 

 lay a reasonable number, fifteen or so at a time, but one 

 species has been observed to lay 28,000 eggs in ten 

 hours. 



It may seem peculiar that the custom of enclosing the 

 eggs in a jelly should be so universal ; the object is 

 Q 241 



