RANINAE 



245 



fluid, aud the larvae, provided with external gills and a long tail, 

 swam about in the slime. In the natural course of events the 

 larvae are probably washed down into the water by the rain. 

 He found that the female deposits the eggs in the foamy 

 mass at night, during the months of June and July, on 

 various kinds of trees, either between the roots or in a cavity 

 formed by gluing together several leaves, sometimes 10 feet and 

 more above the water, or near the margin. On one occasion 

 the mother was seen sitting upon the foamy mass, clasping the 

 same with its four limbs. 



Ehacoflwrus. — This large genus, containing more than forty 

 species, has a curious distribution. At least one dozen species 

 are found in Madagascar, eight or nine in Ceylon, the rest in 

 Southern India, the Himalayas, the Malay Islands and Philip- 

 pines, extending northwards through China and Southern Japan. 

 Therefore this genus, with the three species of the African 

 Chiromantis, extends over the whole of the Palaeotropical 

 region. The generic name has reference to the possession by 

 many species of little dermal flaps, especially at the inner side of 

 the heel, and it has nothing to do with the parachute-like use of 

 the hands and feet of certain species, to be mentioned presently. 



The terminal phalanges are generally bifurcated, rarely 

 obtuse, and support well-developed adhesive discs. The fingers 

 and toes are webbed to a variable extent. The two outer meta- 

 tarsals are likewise connected by a web. The tympanum is 

 distinct. The general appearance is that of tree-frogs, and 

 many of them are green. The males have one or two in- 

 ternal vocal sacs. Not all the species have dermal appendages. 

 Mh. maximus, for instance, the largest of all, living in the 

 Himalayan forests, has none. A heel-flap occurs in some half- 

 dozen Indian species ; and Wi . madagascariensia has these flaps 

 on the heels and on the elbows. Some have queer little lappets 

 above the vent, or on the edges of the arms and legs; in others the 

 bend of the arm is fringed. The small size of these appendages, 

 in comparison with the webs and discs, makes them practically 

 useless so far as increase of surface is concerned, and they have 

 most likely some other, although unknown meaning, especially 

 the flaps over the vent. Lastly, in the majority of species the 

 fingers are not more than half-webbed, or even less, and in a 

 few only, the webs reach down to the discs. 



