204 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 
surface of the body. In this sac the eggs laid by the female are deposited and pass through 
their tadpole phases. 
The HorNeED FROGS, or HORNED TOADS, of South America constitute a distinct and 
interesting group. They are of large size, stout and rotund, gorgeously apparelled, and 
truculent in bearing. There are nearly a dozen known species, the distinctive feature from 
which they take their name having reference to the stiff, horn-like development of their 
upper eyelids. The largest species is a native of Brazil, whose body may be as much as 
8 inches long. This species has the horn-like processes of the eyelids most prominently 
developed. A somewhat smaller but conspicuously handsome species, plentiful in the Argentine 
Republic, is at the present time represented by several individuals at the Regent's Park Gardens. 
In this animal the body is relatively more obese and toad-like than in the Brazilian form, 
but the horn-like angle of the upper eyelid is only slightly produced. The colours vary 
somewhat, the general ground-tint of the upper-surface is bronze-green or yellow, upon which 
are distributed large spots and blotches of dark olive or chocolate, having light yellow or 
golden margins. The spots on the limbs are 
the widest, and almost take the character of 
cross-bands. Bright claret-red lines are some- 
times developed in and among the body-spots. 
A very interesting account of the habits 
of this frog appears in Mr. W. H. Hudson's 
“The Naturalist in La Plata.” Mr. Hudson 
reports it as being common on the pampas 
as far south as the Rio Colorado, in Patagonia. 
In the breeding-season it congregates in pools, 
and displays extraordinary vocal powers, which 
are exercised at night. The notes uttered 
are Jong, resembling those of a wind instru- 
ment, and are so powerful that on still evenings 
they may be heard distinctly a mile off. After 
the pairing-season the frogs disperse, and, 
retiring to moist places, bury themselves just 
deep enough to leave their broad green backs 
on a level with the surface. The eyes, under 
these conditions, look out as from a couple 
Photo by Scholastic Photo, Co,J [Parson's Green 
of watch-towers, and are on the guz vive for 
EUROPEAN GREEN TREE-FROG any approaching prey. This consists of any 
Indigenous 0 Southern Europe moving creature which they can capture, such 
as other frogs and toads, birds, and small 
mammals. In very wet seasons they will frequent the neighbourhood of houses, and lie in 
wait for chickens and ducklings, often capturing and attempting to swallow objects much too 
large for them. In disposition they are exceedingly pugnacious, savagely biting at anything 
that comes near them. When teased, the creature swells itself out to such an extent that one 
expects to see it burst. It follows its tormentors about with slow, awkward leaps, its vast 
mouth wide open, and uttering an incessant harsh croaking sound. When they bite, these 
frogs hold on with the tenacity of a bull-dog, poisoning the blood of the creature seized with 
their glandular secretion. Mr. Hudson records two instances in which to his knowledge horses 
were killed through being bitten by a horned frog. One of them, while lying down, had been 
seized by a fold in the skin near the belly; the other had been grasped by the nose while 
cropping grass. In both instances the vicious frog was found dead, with jaws tightly closed, 
still hanging to the dead horse. “It would seem,” Mr. Hudson remarks, “that they are 
sometimes incapable of letting go at will, and, like honey-bees, destroy themselves in these 
savage attacks.” 
