No. 470] 



HABITS OF NECTURUS 



135 



supply of eggs, that even those which were left are missing. Sev- 

 eral times the writer has found an animal in the nest whose stom- 

 ach was distended with eggs. The inference, although positive 

 proof is wanting, is that the parent devours her eggs when the 

 nest is much disturbed. 



The length of time which intervenes between deposition and 

 the beginning of cleavage has been accurately determined in a 

 single instance in which four eggs were deposited after the animal 

 was placed in the aquarium. These were placed in a hatching 

 dish in which the water was 17° C. In one egg the first cleavage 

 groove appeared in 18 hours, in two at 20 hours, and in one at 

 23 hours. The time in some cases certainly exceeds 24 hours, 

 since eggs taken from the nest were kept in a hatching dish for 

 this length of time before cleavage began. 



LITERATURE 



'50. Revision of North American Tailed Batrachia, with Descriptions 

 of New Genera and Species. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila, ser. 

 2, vol. 1, pp. 281-294. 

 Cope, E. D. 



•66. On the Structures and Distribution of the Genera of the Arci- 

 ferous Anura. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., ser. 2, vol. 6, pp. 

 67-112, pi. 25. 



CUVIER, G. 



'29. Le regne animale. Paris, new ed., vol. 2. 

 DeKay, J. 



'42. Natural History of New York. Part 3. Albany. 

 Garnier, J. H. 



'88. [On a New Species of Menohranchu^ (latcnilis var. lata.^iri).] 

 Proc. Can. Inst., ser. 3, vol. 5, pp. 21S-21V). 

 GiBBES, L. R. 



'53. Description (with Figure) of Menobratichus punctatus. Boston 

 Journ. Nat. Hist., vol. 6, pp. 369-373, pi. 13. 



