No. 9—CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE ZOOLOGICAL LABORATORY 
OF THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY AT HARVARD 
COLLEGE. E. L. Mark, Director, No. 230.  ’ 
On the hair-like appendages in the frog Astylosternus robustus (Blgr.). 
By Witty KUKENTHAL. 
While working at the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy at Harvard 
University, soon after my arrival in Cambridge, Dr. Thomas Barbour 
called my attention to some frogs collected in Kamerun. I was much 
struck by their very peculiar appearance which showed a dense cover- 
ing of hair-like filaments on both sides of the body and on the outer 
surface of the thigh (Plates 1-3). 
This frog was described by Boulenger (:00, p. 443, pl. XXX), 
who named it Trichobatrachus robustus, thus establishing, not only 
a new species, but also a new genus. Boulenger pointed out that 
the villose dermal papillae covering some parts of the body are far 
from being a nuptial attribute of the males, as one might have been 
inclined to suppose from analogy with various fishes, and he empha- 
sized the fact that this character is more strongly developed in the 
female than in the male. He suspected, therefore, that these hair- 
like appendages are a mere seasonal peculiarity. About a year later 
Boulenger (:02) published another short paper upon the same sub- 
ject, having meantime had the opportunity of investigating seven more 
specimens besides the two he had at first. He refers to an examina- 
tion of the histological structure of the hair-like appendages made by 
Dr. H. Gadow (:00) and confirms Gadow’s view that we possess no: 
clue whatever to their physiological signification. Five out of the 
seven specimens were adults. Of these five adults, three were females. 
Although evidently obtained during the breeding season, these females 
showed no trace of the appendages, whilst the two males had them very 
well developed. 
We see that this statement is quite contradictory to that which 
Boulenger had made in his first publication, but, strangely, the author 
gives no explanation of this discrepancy. 
In Gadow’s short communication about the histological structure 
of these peculiar villosities, he tells us that males and females possess 
on their flanks, as well as on the upper and hind surfaces of the thighs, 
