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<Tke SURINAM TOAD 



RICHARD DECKERT 



Ne\\> York Zoological Society 



The Surinam Toad, Pipa americana, 

 belongs in the sub-order Aglossa (mean- 

 ing without tongue), of the order Salien- 

 tia, the frog-like amphibians. It is a large 

 aquatic toad, living in the creeks and 

 back-waters of rivers and in the larger 

 ponds, in the forests of the Guianas, Ven- 

 ezuela and, as rediscovered by R. R. 

 Mole, on Trinidad, off the Venezuelan 

 coast. 



In spite of its ungainly shape the 

 Surinam toad is a powerful swimmer, 

 moving along in its native element with 

 slow strokes like the measured wing- 

 beats of a gull, and covering as much as 

 three feet with two strokes of its im- 

 mensely webbed feet. In captivity it is 

 fairly hardy, provided the aquarium is 

 large, the temperature maintained at 70 

 to 80 degrees, and food offered freely. 

 According to Mr. Mole, the latter should 

 consist of small frogs, preferably newly 

 metamorphosed Leopard frogs (Rana 

 pipiens), Pond frogs (R. clamitans) and 

 Bull frogs (R. catesbiana) . With the 

 writer it refuses all small fishes, worms 

 and insects, though Sclater and Bartlett, 

 of the London Zoological Gardens, were 

 successful in inducing it to take these 

 articles of ordinary frog-diet. 



The females are remarkable in their 

 nursing habits. During oviposition the 

 oviduct is protruded to a length of sev- 

 eral inches, and shoved up on the female's 

 back, where it discharges the spawn, 

 which is absorbed into enlarged pores, 

 each egg occupying a separate pore or 

 cell. The eggs number from 40 to 120. 

 The skin becomes very much swollen and 

 almost half an inch thick, appearing like 



a cushion. After about 80 days the young 

 begin to emerge, some as perfect little 

 toads, though the majority still possess 

 the tadpole tail. By rubbing against 

 rough objects, the female then rids her- 

 self of the now useless epidermis or outer 

 skin. These observations were made on 

 captive specimens for the first time by 

 Sclater, in 1895, in the London Zoological 



Pipa americana 

 By the Author from Life 



Gardens, and a year later by Bartlett in 

 the same place. 



The "Pipa" is large for a toad, the 

 males measuring six inches and the fe- 

 males up to eight inches from snout to 

 vent. The shape is bluntly oblong, with 

 a limb at each "corner." The head is 

 triangular, very thin and flat, with fleshy 

 appendages at the tip of the nose and at 

 the mouth-angles. A fringe of fine, white 



