CONCERNING TADPOLES 



203 



And now as touching the Caecilians. The young of the 

 strange and little-known ichthyophis of S.E. Asia and 

 Ceylon are guarded much after the fashion just described 

 in the case of the three-toed salamander. The mother, 

 though as limbless as a snake, somehow contrives to dig 

 a hole close to the surface, in damp ground and near 

 water. Here she produces about a score of large yellow 

 eggs, which are strung together by strong stalks con- 

 taining a 

 twisted cen- 

 tral thread. 

 These stalks 

 answer to the 

 chalaza of a 

 hen's egg. 

 By their 

 means the eggs , 

 are held to- j 

 gether in a 

 bunch, and 

 round this the 

 mother coils 

 her body, as 

 shown in our 



illustration. During incubation the eggs actually enlarge 

 to allow room for the growing larva, which absorbs air, or 

 " breathes," through the deUcate envelope which answers 

 to the shell of the egg, by means of large external gills. 

 These, it is to be noted, disappear just before hatching, 

 being replaced by lungs, a hole in the neck marking the 

 spot where the gills were seated. On hatching, the young 

 leave their mother and betake themselves to the water, 

 where for some time they lead an eel-like existence ; and 



SNAKE-LIKE AMPHIBIAN. 



