38 REPTILE GALLERY. 



(the Flying Frog of Wallace). What is certain is that the disk-like 

 dilatations of the tips of the fingers act as adhesive organs (fig. 26), 

 by means of which the animal attaches itself to vertical or smooth 

 surfaces, as may he observed in the common Tree-Frog from the 

 continent, which is frequently kept in captivity in this country. 



Fig. 26. 



Foot of Hylambates palmatus. 



The Dendrobatida are small Tree-Frogs, closely allied to the 

 preceding family, but destitute of teeth, in which respect they 

 resemble the Toads. The savage tribes of some parts of South 

 America extract a deadly poison for their arrows from Dendrobates 

 tinctorius, of which a specimen is exhibited, and from other allied 

 species. 



The Cy stiff nathida represent the Ranidae in tropical America 

 and Australia. They differ from the true Frogs in the structure 

 of the sternal apparatus, which, as in Toads, belongs to the 

 " Arciferous " type. Several of the genera lack altogether a web 

 between the toes (Leptodactylus) , whereas others (e. g. Pseudis) 

 have the toes extensively webbed. Pseudis was believed by the 

 earliest observers who studied the fauna of the Guianas to reverse 

 the course of the ordinary metamorphosis and to change into a 

 fish. This fable originated in the enormous size of the tadpole, 

 which frequently far exceeds that of the perfect animal. Several 

 of these larvae are exhibited. The Ceratophrys, or Horned Frogs, 

 also belong to this family. 



The Bufonidce, or true Toads, have no teeth, and the transverse 

 processes of the sacral vertebra are more or less strongly dilated 

 or hatchet-shaped. Two species, Bufo vulgaris (the Common Toad) 

 and Bufo calamita (the Natterjack), represent this group in the 



