CLASPING ORGANS OF AMPHIBIA. 257 



Among the Caudata the clasping organs are almost always 

 developed on the hind limbs. They were first observed in the 

 common newt, according to Jordan, 1 by Braun in 1878 on the 

 European species Diemyctylus alpestris. During the breeding 

 season there are developed " all the way up and down the inside 

 of the hind legs as well as on the adjoining parts of the body, 

 round, black, wart-like elevations. These warts are hard and 

 rough and undoubtedly aid the male in clasping the female more 

 firmly." 2 



There are numerous other instances cited in the literature in 

 which similar structures have been observed in the males but they 

 are all in general plan similar to those of Diemyctylus where they 

 are only developed during the breeding season and subsequently 

 turn yellow, become soft and then disappear. 



The phylogeny of the modern Amphibia is one of the most 

 obscure of any of the groups of vertebrates. The modern forms 

 are for the most part degenerate in structure and in no way com- 

 pare to the robust forms of the Carboniferous, some of which, at 

 least, must have been their ancestors. The Amphibia on the 

 whole have played but a small part in the history of animal life 

 on the earth. They have never become the dominant type in 

 any age as did the fishes, reptiles and mammals. They have 

 always, so to speak, filled in the corners, left by their more ag- 

 gressive contemporaries. Their chief interest lies in that they 

 were the ancestors of the higher forms of life. 



The modern Amphibia are for the most part shy, harmless 

 creatures although there is an interesting exception to this in the 

 case of the horned frog, Ceratophrys, one species of which, accord- 

 ing to Lydekker, is " exceeding bold and ferocious, flying fiercely 

 at anyone who attacks them, and maintaining their hold with the 

 tenacity of a bull-dog, at the same time uttering a kind of bark- 

 ing cry." 3 We have abundant evidence that in the old pond or 

 lake which was once located, during the Carboniferous period, 

 near the place where was recently situated the town of Linton, 

 Ohio, that the Amphibia, like the recent Ceratophrys, were of a 



'Jordan, 1891, Journ. MorphoL, Vol. V., No. 2, p. 263. 



2 Jordan, loc. cit., p. 264. 



3 Lydekker, "New Natural History," Vol. V., p. 275. 



