364 BLUEFIELDS. 



The peculiarity, mentioned in the note, of the 

 glass-like transparency of the lower eyelid (which, in 

 these animals, is the larger, and performs the office 

 of closing the eye) is well worthy of notice. I have 

 elsewhere* remarked a structure exactly similar in the 

 Woodslave {Mahouya ac/ilis), a pretty little Scincoid 

 lizard that plays about walls in Jamaica. In both 

 cases, we may consider it a beautiful and effective 

 provision, for the protection of the eye during the 

 rapid movements of the animals, where sight would 

 be indispensable. The Tree-toad dwells habitually 

 among the sheathing leaves of the Wild-pines, always 

 stiff and leathery, and often armed with sharp ser- 

 rated spines at every edge. Among these it moves 

 to and fro by violent headlong leaps, in which it 

 needs to be guided by the sharpest sight. How in- 

 teresting, then, is it to see that its gracious Creator 

 has furnished it with a glassy window, which it may 

 in a moment draw before its eye, for shelter from 

 danger, without in the least hindering the clearness 

 of its vision ! This structure has not, I believe, been 

 noticed by any naturalist ; and, indeed, it is scarcely 

 perceptible when the delicate membrane has become 

 opaque by immersion in spirits. " All thy works 

 shall praise thee, O Lord ! " 



That there is a second species of Trachycephalus 

 found in the western districts of Jamaica, I infer 

 from the following description of one in Dr. Anthony 

 Robinson's MSS. " Rana palmis tetradactylis se- 

 mipalmatis ; plantis hexadactylis palmatis ; pollice 

 breviore. Weight, 2 oz. Troy. From the tip of 

 the longest digit to that of the longest toe, \o 

 • See Proceedings of the Zool, Soc. for 1 848, p. 60. 



