102 MB. F. E. BBDDAED ON THE [Feb. 6, 



tail with a broad membranaceous fin continued to the end of the 

 tail " — implying the absence of a dorsal fin. The next description 

 and figures of the tadpole are to be found in the late Mr. W. K. 

 Parker's memoir upon the Batrachian skull \ The dorsal and 

 ventral aspects of the larva (he. cit. pi. 56. figs. 1, 2) are very much 

 better than the lateral view (he. cit. pi. 56. fig. 3) which has been 

 copied into the textbooks. This lateral view exaggerates the fish- 

 like build of the lai'va, and even suggests armoured and extinct 

 fishes. The dorsal and ventral fins, both of \Ahich are shown, are 

 depicted as ceasing abruptly some way in front of the end of the 

 tail, giving to it a totally undeserved " Chimaeroid " look. There 

 are, however, in the paper to which I refer some valuable notes 

 upon the external characters of the tadpoles, as well as (of course) 

 upon the skull-structure. The tentacles are correctly described, 

 the absence of horny teeth noted, and the paired branchial orifices 

 correctly located. On the other hand, as I shall show in the 

 present paper, Prof. Parker was wrong in stating the absence of 

 claspers beneath the chin. 



Quite recently''^ Mr. Leslie has still further increased our 

 knowledge of this Amphibian, though his notes with regard to the 

 larva are only confirmatory of the results given in Parker's paper 

 and are not wholly accurate, as I shall point out later, in the 

 alleged absence of external gills. 



The eggs laid in the Society's Gardens were deposited singly ; 

 no great masses of spawn like those of our Common Frog were 

 found. Nevertheless I had a group of four or five adherent eggs 

 brought to me. The eggs were laid some time in the evening of 

 Saturday, May 27th, 1893 ; by Monday morning at 10 a.m. I had 

 newly-hatched lar\'8e. The intervening Sunday prevented me from 

 examining into the early stages of development. The rapidity 

 with which the larvsB were hatched out is remarkable. At the 

 Cape the breeding-season is early spring (August), but Mr. Leslie 

 does not mention the period of time which elapses between the 

 deposition of the ova and the appearance of tadpoles. The 

 specimens which bred at the Gardens were some which Mr. Finn 

 brought back with him from Zanzibar. 



External Form and Colour. — The most remarkable point about 

 these tadpoles is their extreme transparency. As will be seen from 

 the accompanying drawings (Plate XIII.), the pigment is thinly 

 scattered about, not obscuring the internal structure. The blood- 

 vessels and even the nerves can be readily detected w hen the tadpole 

 is examined alive. At first the tadpoles are in shape like those of 

 the Common Frog ; but on the third day, as Mr. Leslie correctly 

 observes, the characteristic form of the more mature tadpole is 

 acquired. The head and body become broader, and are not 

 separated by a constriction as they are in the Common Frog. In 



' « On the Structure and Development of the Skull in the Batrachia, Pt. II.," 

 Phil. Trans, vol. 166 (1877), p. 625. 



' " Notes on the Habits and Oviposition of Xenopus Icevis" P. Z. S. 1890, 

 p. 69. 



