Frogs and Toads 



the eggs hatch, the tadpoles go through their develop- 

 ment and the young frogs come into the world at a stage 

 at which they can look after themselves. As we have 

 mentioned, much light remains to be shed upon the habits 

 of this frog ; no one yet knows how the eggs find their 

 way into the mouth of the father frog. 



Another frog from Southern Brazil has very curious 

 nesting habits. As with most other frogs, its tadpoles live 

 in water, yet the eggs are never laid in that element. The 

 mother frog, when about to lay her eggs, displays consider- 

 able ingenuity in selecting a suitable spot. She ascends 

 a tree near some stagnant pool, a tree whose branches 

 overhang the water ; she climbs to one of the outer 

 branches and on to what she deems a suitable leaf. Then, 

 beginning at the tip, she clasps the edges of the leaf with 

 her hand-like feet and bends them over towards one 

 another and, at the same time, deposits an egg within 

 the rolled leaf. Her eggs are covered with jelly which 

 not only acts as a protecting envelope but sticks the leaf 

 edges together. Travelling from tip to base of the leaf, 

 folding it and laying jelly-covered eggs all the time, she 

 eventually abandons the leaf as a cone-shaped envelope 

 containing a number of eggs. When the eggs hatch, 

 what could be more simple than for the tadpoles to fall 

 into the water below, and this is what they do. 



The clumsily named midwife toad is another amphibian 

 where the male does his duty in the rearing of the family. 

 This toad is very common in certain parts of the continent 

 of Europe, particularly in Spain and Portugal. The male 

 spends most of his time in a comfortable dug-out, in 

 a crevice in some wall, beneath some shelving stone or 

 even in a hole appropriated from a mouse. The female 

 lays her eggs in double rosary-like strings and, after they 

 are deposited, the male obligingly draws the egg masses 

 over his hind legs, much as a mere man pulls on his 

 unmentionables, so that the jelly-covered eggs encircle his 

 waist. Then he goes back to his dug-out and remains in 



243 



