BREEDING HABITS OF FROGS AND TOADS 363 
escape into water; if they fail to fall directly into the 
latter, they are capable of wriggling during a shower a 
distance of several inches along the ground, aiding them- 
selves by a jumping motion. In the case of the tree-frog 
of Rio de Janeiro (Hyla nebulosa) the spawn is deposited 
in the sheath of withered banana leaves far away from 
water ; the tadpoles undergoing the whole of their develop- 
ment in the frothy egg-mass, and actually dying if they 
are put into water. Here, then, we have an instance in 
which the normal conditions of tadpole development are 
totally changed. 
But this is by no means a solitary example. The tad- 
poles of another Brazilian frog (Cystignathus fragilis), and 
probably also those of a Ceylon species (Rhacophorus eques), 
are stated to undergo a portion of their development on 
land. The eggs have been found in ftothy masses on 
land, those of the former species usually in grass near 
pools, and its tadpoles have been observed under decaying 
tree-trunks. Again, a third Brazilian frog (Cystignathus 
mystaceus) never goes near water, even to spawn; the 
eggs being deposited in comparatively small numbers in 
a hole under stones or decaying wood near the edge of 
a pool, but above the water-level. The frothy substance 
in which they are hatched probably serves the tadpoles as 
food, since it diminishes in quantity as they develop. In 
a dry season the tadpoles often remain in the nest until 
they are of large size, but more generally they are swept 
into the pool when its level rises after rain above the 
normal. Masses of a green frothy spawn of about the 
size of a rook’s egg found adhering to the walls of cisterns, 
to faces of rock overhanging water, and to moist tree- 
trunks in Ceylon, are believed to be deposited by the frog 
known as Polypedates maculatus. In Brazil the tadpoles of 
