SOME STRANGE NURSING HABITS 343 
americana), as the animal in question is called, was, I 
believe, only known in Europe by means of specimens 
preserved in spirit; and we have, therefore, been obliged 
to depend upon foreign observers for an account of its 
marvellous life-history. As it differs from other members 
of its order with regard to its method of bringing up its 
family, so the Surinam toad is structurally more or less 
unlike all its kindred, constituting not only a genus, but 
likewise a family group by itself. Externally it is charac- 
terised by its short and triangular head, which is furnished 
with a large flap of skin at each corner of the mouth, and 
has very minute eyes. The four front toes are quite free, 
and terminate in expanded star-like tips; but a large web 
unites the whole five toes of the hind-foot. In any state 
the creature is by no means a beauty, but when the female 
is carrying her nursery about with her she is absolutely 
repulsive in appearance. It would seem that soon after 
the eggs are laid, they are taken up by the male and 
pressed, one by one, into the cells in the thickened skin 
of his partner’s back ; there they grow till they fit closely 
to the hexagonal form of their prisons, each of which is 
closed above by a kind of trap-door. After a, period of 
some eighty-two days, the eggs reach their full develop- 
ment and produce, not tadpoles, but actually perfect little 
toads. The reason of this is that tadpoles, which require 
to breathe the air dissolved in water by means of their 
external gills, could not exist in the cells, and, conse- 
quently, this stage of the development is passed through 
very rapidly within the egg. When ready to come forth, 
the young toads, which are usually from sixty to seventy 
in number, although there may sometimes be over a 
hundred, burst open the lids of their cells, and, after 
stretching forth their heads or a limb, make their debut 
