THE SALA3IANDERS. 



91 



for carrying its eggs upon 

 its back (fig. 23.). The 

 Pipa, or Cell-bearing 

 toad of Surinam, is evi- 

 dently allied in gene- 

 ral form to the reptiles 

 last mentioned ; yet it 

 differs in some very 

 remarkable characters. 

 The species best known 

 is sometimes called the Surinam toad, and this is the 

 type of the genus. It is a hideous, but a most singular 

 animal, of a dark brov^n colour, covered with reddish 

 tubercles, and grows to six or eight inches in length. 

 Nature Seems to have bestowed upon the female an 

 extraordinary poAver of protecting its young. So soon 

 as the eggs are deposited upon her back, by the assistance 

 of the male, she hastens to the water, where her skin 

 swells, and forms little round cells, into which the eggs 

 sink : the young, at the time of their birth, have a little 

 tail, which they retain so long as they remain in their 

 cells, wherein they seem to perform their transformation. 

 So soon as their feet become developed they are left by 

 their mother, as able to provide for their future suste- 

 nance. 



(97-) In the brief notices to which we must confine 

 ourselves regarding the remaining amphibians, it will be 

 as well to follow the order in which they stand in the 

 Regne Animal, with the exception of adding thereto 

 the singular genus CcEcilia, which we agree with Mr. 

 Bell in placing as the most aberrant type of the true 

 amphibia. They will therefore be enumerated as fol- 

 lows : — 1 . The Salamanders, either terrestrial or 

 aquatic; 2. The Protean reptiles, aU of which, like the 

 last, have four feet, excepting the sirens, in which the 

 hinder pair are entirely wanting ; and 3. the Ccecilia, 

 The Salamanders (fig. 24, 25.) have the general form 

 of lizards, but without their scales. The head is greatly 

 flattened, the ear concealed beneath the skin, and the two 



