ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 11 
words we have no idea as yet as to what species 
of frog it will become. But the indications are 
that this early coloration will be entirely lost, 
and that they will become drab little jungle- 
lovers with no recollection of the brilliant har- 
lequin dress of their infant days. 
The bluish-black tadpoles were found at Ca- 
maria, near the first rapids of the Cuyuni River, 
five miles from the Research Station. They 
were first seen as a black mass with heads 
turned inward, slowly circling about an imag- 
inary axis. Dipping a small net into the group, 
I drew up a wet, wriggling mass of potential 
frogs. The single catch resulted in less than 
half the group, and yet they numbered nearly 
two hundred and fifty. Strange to say, this dis- 
turbance of their aquatic dance did not change 
the circle, the remaining tadpoles closing up the 
gaps and continuing the round. After choosing 
about fifty typical individuals for study, I threw 
the remainder back into the pool. They imme- 
diately congregated in a single mass, and slowly 
started the old dance, slowly circling and then 
stopping for a while, then circling again. Now 
and then one would break away and come to 
the surface to gulp some air. But it always 
returned to its fellows. A metamorphosed speci- 
men of this tadpole with the tail still present 
has changed into a beautiful pinkish-grey with 
myriad spots of black over all the upper sur- 
faces,—a pattern as surprising as it is inexplic- 
able at present, for it is one unknown as well 
to tadpoles as to any adult frog. 
The teeth of tadpoles give to their mouths an 
absurdly shark-like appearance. These mem- 
bers are usually very valuable in helping to 
identify the species, but in the case of the Kar- 
tabo tadpoles, the teeth as well as the rest of 
the little creatures are all new facts to science. 
The yellow and black tadpole is armed with 
nine rows of teeth, two rows in the upper series 
and seven in the lower, in addition to the horny 
beaks, of which each possesses a strong row. 
All of which the little creature finds necessary 
in his varied vegetable and animal diet. During 
the change from tadpole to frog, all of these 
teeth are lost, and the mouth becomes wider and 
more suitable for the more mature diet of in- 
sects and other living creatures. 
Almost all of the tadpoles found at Kartabo 
lead normal lives, similar to those of our north- 
ern states, dependent upon themselves for the 
continuation of their existence from their hatch- 
ing to their ultimate change into full grown 
frogs. Now and then a strange form appears. 
A specimen of the black marsh frog, (Dendro- 
bates trivittatus) was brought into the Station 
carrying forty-three tadpoles attached to its 
body. During the seasons when dry weather 
threatens to evaporate the water in the nursery 
pools, the adults of this species allow the tad- 
poles to fasten themselves to the lower back. 
They are then conveyed to other pools where 
there is less possibility of drying up. 
Another strange amphibian found within the 
district is the Surinam toad, (Pipa americana), 
a curious flattened creature, that carries its eggs 
in small depressions of the skin of the back. 
The tadpoles are hatched within the skin, and 
develop fully before they leap out of the cell 
as diminutive but perfectly formed toads of 
a new generation. With these and others still 
unknown that are awaiting discovery, little ex- 
cuse is needed for greeting with real enthusiasm 
every new form of tadpole. 
BIRTH OF A PYGMY HIPPOPOTAMUS 
By Witu1am T. Hornapay 
N JULY 1912 three Pygmy Hippopotami 
arrived at the Zoological Park. They were 
purchased (for $15,000) from Carl Hagen- 
beck, whose exploring collector caught five in 
all, in Liberia. 
At that particular juncture the zoological 
garden directors of all Germany were industri- 
ously engaged in boycotting Mr. Hagenbeck, 
the best and foremost of all dealers in wild 
animals, and were keeping the oath they had 
sworn to buy nothing from him. This generous 
and kind “gentleman’s agreement’? was entered 
into and kept because Mr. Hagenbeck had had 
the temerity to build at Hamburg a_ private 
zoological garden so spectacular and attractive 
that it made the old Hamburg Zoo look obsolete 
and uninteresting. 
It was because of that boycott that the New 
York Zoological Society was enabled to buy three 
out of the five pygmy hippos captured by Hans 
Schomburgk. Had it been otherwise only one 
of these rare beasts would have been offered to 
