TONGUELESS GROUP. 



287 



Surinam Water 

 Toad. 



The second family, distinguished by the absence of teeth in both 

 jaws, is represented solely by the Surinam water - toad (Pipa 

 americana), which has long enjoyed a worldwide reputation, on account of the 

 very singular manner in which the eggs are lodged during the period of their 

 development. Agreeing with the spur-toed frogs in its circular pupil, smooth 

 palate, and absence of a tympanic membrane to the ear, the Surinam toad has the 

 extremities of the free front -toes dilated into radiating appendages, while the 



SMOOTH SPUR-TOED FROG AND ITS TADPOLE (liat. size). 



fully-webbed hind-toes are devoid of nails. In form the head is triangular and 

 much depressed, with the eye minute, one or two short tentacles on the lip in front 

 of the eye, a large flap at each corner of the mouth, and sometimes a third at the 

 tip of the muzzle. The skin, which is covered with small tubercles, is olive-brown 

 or blackish on the upper-parts, while beneath it is lighter, being sometimes orna- 

 mented with white spots, and at others with a black stripe down the middle line. 



The Surinam toad is an inhabitant of the damp forests of the Guianas and 

 Brazil, and the females deposit their eggs after the usual manner in the water. At 

 this period the skin of the back of the female becomes extremely soft and much 



