PELODY'I'ES. 187 



to jump in the manner of the true frogs, covei'ing 

 14 or 15 inches at one leap, and it is besides a good 

 climber, ascending smooth vertical surfaces by adhesion 

 of the abdominal surface. Nor, in spite of its nearly 

 free toes, is it a bad swimmer, often frequenting deep 

 ponds during the pairing time. Its dermal secretion 

 bears a strong smell of garlic As often heard in 

 the evening, its voice is feeble, a sort of creck-crecJc- 

 creclc, which cannot be better compared than to the 

 creaking of a leather shoe. But during the pairing 

 the male produces, under water, a more sonorous and 

 very different note — co-acJr, to which the female re- 

 sponds by a feeble coo. 



As a general rule, Pelodytes punctatus breeds, in 

 France, between the end of February and the begin- 

 ning of April ; but instances of its breeding in May, 

 July, August, September, October, and November 

 have been placed on record by A. Thomas, Lataste, 

 Bedriaga, and myself. Thomas, who first observed 

 the breeding habits of this Batrachian, near Nantes, 

 stated that it spawns twice in the year, in the 

 spring and in the autumn. According to Heron- 

 Royer, another French observer who devoted special 

 attention to the habits of the same animal, Pelo- 

 dytes breeds only once a year, in the spring. 

 Bedriaga has observed the spawning to take place in 

 the south of France in the spring and again in the 

 autumn. On the 30th of October, 1896, he was so kind 

 as to send me from Nice a large number of breeding 

 specimens, — among them, however, only two females, 

 one of which spawned on the way and the other 

 reached me with eggs in the oviducts. Having, 

 besides, myself found Pelodytes pairing on the north 

 coast of Brittany at the end of August, 1 have no 

 doubt Heron-Royer was wrong, and that the autumnal 

 hymen will also be found to take place near Paris, 

 where the species is so plentiful. 



The mode of embrace, which falls in the lumbar 

 type, is peculiar. Owing to the thin waist of the 



