ORDER BATRACHIA. 463 



tarily. Daudin suspects that it lays its e^gs in the earth, 

 in humid places, near the subterraneous sources of water. 



The hufo musicus of Daudin is met with in Carolina, where 

 it lives in holes in the ground, never coming out until towards 

 evening or after rain. Its croaking is far from being musical, 

 as has been pretended — it is weak and disagreeable. Bertram, 

 however, tells us that in the early spring, when the toads 

 assemble together in great numbers, in ponds and canals, 

 they make a loud noise, which is not altogether devoid of 

 harmony. They leave the water after laying, and spread them- 

 selves over elevated grounds. Their young, when they have 

 undergone all their metamorphoses, are scarcely larger than a 

 grasshopper, and they proceed immediately from the water to 

 hop and walk on the dry land. They live on various insects. 



For the species figured it may be sufficient to refer to the 

 text and table. 



The genus Pipa, after the example of Laurenti, the Baron, 

 and M. Dumeril, is now constantly distinguished from the 

 toads by modern naturalists. The pipa of Surinam, which 

 is its type, is assuredly a most hideous reptile ; it is from 

 six to eight inches in length, and four or five in breadth ; 

 its skin is of a sombre brown, and thickly sown with 

 reddish tubercles ; on its thighs and sides, small warts are 

 visible, and its skin is folded and wrinkled. 



The female, whose back is hollowed with a great number 

 of small cells, is more voluminous than the male ; the latter 

 has an enormous larynx made like an osseous triangular line, 

 within Avhich are two moveable bones, which have the power 

 of closing the entrance of the branchiae. 



The pipa lives in the fresh waters of South America, and 

 sometimes in the obscure parts of houses, at Cayenne and 

 Surinam, whence it is named tedo and curucu. Accord- 

 ing to Seba, and Mademoiselle Merian, the negroes of the 

 colonies employ its flesh as food. 



