AMPHIBIA 



185 



about by means of a protrusible tentacular organ that lies in a groove 

 between the eye and nose. The eggs are meroblastic and are fertilized 

 internally by means of an eversion of the cloaca of the male which be- 

 comes a tube-hke copulatory organ. Some species are oviparous, 

 others viviparous. 



Fig. 108. — Group of Apoda. A, Caecilia, emerging from burrow; B, Ichthyo- 

 phis glutinosus (nat. size), female guarding her eggs, coiled up in hole in the 

 ground; C, a nearly ripe embryo, with cutaneous gills, tail-fin, and still a con- 

 siderable amount of yolk. (Redrawn after P. and F. Sarasia.) 



Natural History of Ichthyophis glutinosa. — ^This species is chosen 

 as an example of Apoda because it has been adequately studied and 

 described by the Sarasins. The species extends from the foot hills 

 of the Himalayas to Ceylon, the Malay Archipelago, and Siam. It 

 reaches a length of about a foot. In color it is dark brown or bluish 

 black with a yellow band along the side. The ovarian egg is oval, 

 about 4x6 mm. There is a heavy coat of albumen with chalazse, 

 much as in the birds, these chalazae imiting the eggs in bunches. The 

 egg bunch is laid in a shallow hole near the water. The female coils 

 herself about the glutinous mass (Fig. 108, B) to protect it from 

 ground-burrowing animals. The gilled larval period is passed through 

 in the egg before hatching. The three pairs of larval gills (Fig. 108, 

 C) are of the external type and are very large and finely branched. 

 The gills are lost when the larva hatches. The larva swims about in 

 the water for a time like an eel, but comes frequently to the surface to 

 breath air. The larval period is a long one, but at lefigth the two 



