Miscellaneous. 455 



pity that Mr. Cope, who describes the specimen on which the larva9 

 were found, should not have taken the trouble of ascertaining its 

 sex, instead of contenting himself with the statement " The free 

 tadpole is carried on the parent." 



The explanation of this extraordinary mode of " nursing " is to 

 be found in a contribution by Hr. Aug. Kappler * to the life-history 

 of Reptiles and Batrachians in Dutch Guiana. We have here to do 

 with a quite new mode of parental provision for the safe rearing of 

 the brood, and I append a translation of Hr. Kappler's remarks : — 



'■^Dendrohates trivittatus, Spix. 

 " During the rainy season the female oviposits in small puddles, 

 where the eggs are hatched, after which the frog removes the young 

 tadpoles to other (larger) puddles. This is accomplished, as I have 

 myself several times witnessed, by the frog entering the water, when 

 all the tadpoles gather round and suck on to the parent, which 

 leaves on its journey with an investment of from twelve to eighteen 

 young tadpoles, 6 or 7 millim, long. Whether it is the male or the 

 female that undertakes the carriage is unknown to me." 



It is to be hoped that Messrs. Smith and Kappler's interesting 

 observations may be before long supplemented by fuller accounts. 

 Naturalists in the tropics do not seem to be fully aware of the rich 

 mine of investigation which the breeding-habits of Batrachians 

 afford them. The more our knowledge advances the more we realize 

 the immense amount of secondary modificatious in the development 

 of Batrachians, quite irrespective of their relationships. What is 

 more remarkable than the similarity of the eggs and the nursing- 

 habits of such widely remote forms as Ahjtes, Ichthyophis, Desmo- 

 gnatlius, and Ampliluma ? 



It is, however, held by Mr. Ryder f that this similarity between 

 Iclithyopliis and Ampli'mma is " a confirmation of Prof. Cope's con- 

 clusions as to the taxonomic relations of these two types, and a very 

 iiiteresting instance of the way in which embryological data may 

 become available." 



On the FormatioH of the Antherozoids of the Hepaticae. 

 By M. Leclekc du Sablon. 



The antheridia of the Hepaticae are formed by an aggregation of 

 rounded or oval cells. The cells of the superficial layers remain 

 sterile and form the envelope ; the interior cells play a more impor- 

 tant part — each of them forms a motile antherozoid, capable of 

 fecundating the oosphere and converting it into an ovum. 



How does a cell, formed of a nucleus surrounded by protoplasm 

 and a membrane, become converted into a spiral filament endowed 

 with motion ? The authors who have studied the formation of the 

 antherozoids have answered this question in very different ways. 

 According to some the nucleus disappears, and it is the protoplasm 

 that furnishes the spiral filament ; according to others the protoplasm 

 does not perform any essential part, and it is the nucleus that, by 

 elongating and coiling itself, directly forms the antherozoid. At 

 the close of my researches upon the Hepaticae I shall propose a third 



* Das Ausland, 1885, p. 858. t Amer. Nat. 1888, p. 182. 



