

SURINAM TOAD. Pi'ya. Americdna. 



dissected so as to show the cells and their structure. After the whole brood have left 

 their mother's back, the cells begin to fill up again, closing from below as well as from 

 above, and becoming irregularly puckered on the floors. The cells in the middle of the back 

 are the first developed ; the whole process occupies rather more than eighty days. 



As its name implies, this singular creature inhabits Surinam, but is also found in 

 various parts of Central America. In spite of its repulsive aspect, the negroes are said to 

 eat its flesh. 



The colour of the Surinam Toad is brownish olive above, and whitish below. The skin 

 is covered with a large number of tiny and very hard granules, among which are 

 interspersed some horny tubercular projections. The snout is of a very curious shape, the 

 nostrils being lengthened into a kind of leathery tube. The throat of the male is furnished 

 with a very large bony apparatus, of a triangular box-like shape, and within are two 

 movable pieces by which the voice is modulated. 



WE now come to the Batrachians with tongues. In the greater number of these 

 creatures, the tongue is fastened to the front of the mouth and free behind, the tip pointing 

 down the throat. The prey is taken by the rapid throwing forward of this tongue, and 

 its equally rapid withdrawal into the mouth, carrying the doomed creature on its tip, 

 with such celerity that the eye can hardly follow the movement. 



The skeleton of the adult Frog is worthy of a short notice before we proceed to the 

 farther investigation of these remarkable creatures. The first point which strikes the 

 observer is the shape of the head, and the enormous size of the orbits of the eyes, which are 

 so large, that when the skull is placed flat upon an open book, several words can be read 



