1901.] MU. G v. L!()LLK\G|;I{ (IN AFRICAN HATJIACH lAMS. 7t>0 



earthworms whicli do not possess spermathecce is intelligible 

 enough, as some place is required for the storage of sperm, and 

 tlie male ducts are not furnished with glandular or atrial appendices 

 of sufficient roominess to enclose the liberated sperm. The 

 question, however, raises the larger question of the meaning and 

 homologies of the spermathecte, which is one that is hardly ripe 

 for discussion at present. 



1. Further Notes on the African Batrachians Tricho- 

 batrachus and Gampsosteoni/cV. By G. A, Boulengior^ 

 F.R.S. 



[Eeceivecl November 19, 1901.] 

 (Plate XXXVIII.) 



8ince the publication, in the Society's Proceedings \ of the account 

 of the Batrachians andHeptiles obtained in the Gaboon district by 

 Mr. G. L. Bates, further collections haA'e been received at the 

 Natural History Museum, made by that energetic collector in 

 the same district and also in the Bulu Country, Camaroons. 

 Among the Batrachians sent from the latter country, I was happy 

 to find further examples of the two Frogs which have been de- 

 scribed as Trichoh at radius rohustus and Gampsosteonyx batesi, the 

 former upon two specimens, the latter upon a single one, and this 

 fresh material adds much to our knowledge of these extraordinary 

 Batrachians. 



TrichobatmcJms is now represented by seven further specimens. 

 With reference to the villose dermal papillse, from which the name 

 is derived, I observed in the original description that 1 suspected it 

 to be a mere seasonal peculiarity, v\ hieh, far from being a nuptial 

 nttribute of the males, as one-might have been inclined to suppose 

 from analogy with various fishes, is more strongly developed in 

 the female than in the male. Dr. Gadow, who, with the assist- 

 ance of Mr. F. F. Laidlaw, has since made an examination of the 

 histological structure of these hair-like appendages, remarks " that 

 they consist of finger-shaped prolongations of the skin with an 

 axis of fibrous connective tissue which is a little denser than 

 the neighbouring skin ; small, very insignificant blood-vessels and 

 lymph-spaces are present, but no nerves or nerve-terminations 

 could be detected ; they are therefore not sensory organs. We 

 possess no clue whatever to their physiological signification. Now, 

 of the five adult new specimens, two are males and three are 

 females, evidently obtained during the breeding-season, as evidenced 

 by the nuptial asperities on the inner finger of the males and by 

 the state of the oviducts of one of the females, filled with very 

 large ova 4 millim. in diameter; and these males have the hair-like 



1 P.Z.S. 1900, p. 433. 



^ Anat. Anz. xviii. 1900, p. 588. 



