FROGS AND TOADS. 



633 



where, after impregnation, they are pressed into the cellules, which are at that period 

 open for their reception, and afterwards close over them ; thus retaining them till the 

 period of their second birth, which happens in somewhat less than three months, when 

 they emerge from the back of the parent in their complete state. This species inhabits 

 the obscure nooks of houses in Cayenne and Surinam, avoiding the light of day as if 

 conscious of its unrivaled hideousness. 



A Brazilian tree-frog (Hyla crepitans), which adheres to the large leaves, not merely 

 with its widened toes, but with its constantly viscid body, has a voice which sounds 

 like the cracking of a large piece of wood, and generally proceeds from many throati 

 at a time. On wandering through the forests of Brazil, Prince Maximilian of Neu 

 Wied was often surprised by this singular concert issuing from the dark shades of the 

 forest. A Surinam tree-frog {Hyla micans) has the singular property of secreting a 

 luminous slime, so as to look in the dark like a yellowish will-o'-the-wisp. Its voice 

 is most disagreeable, and is said at times completely to overpower the orchestra of the 

 theatre in Paramaribo, thus emulating the stentorian achievements of the Virginian 

 bull-frog. 



Wallace describes a Flying Frog, of which he discovered a single specimen in the 

 Island of Borneo. It was brought to him by a Chinese workman, who declared that 

 he had seen it coming down in a slanting direction from the top of a high tree as it 

 flew. Its toes were long, and fully webbed to the very extremities, so that when 

 expanded they offered a surface much larger than the body. As the toes had dilated 

 discs for adhesion, showing the creature to be a true tree-frog, it is difficult to imagine 

 that this immense membrane of the toes, occupying in all twelve square inches, could 

 be for the purpose of swimming only, which rendered the Chinaman's account cred- 

 ible. Wallace believes this to be the first instance known of a flying frog. The pic- 

 ture which he gives of this creature is very remarkable. One can get a fair idea of 

 it by imagining an ordinary frog, with a large expanded fan attached to each of the 

 four limbs. , r ^f 



Mr. Darwin thus describes a remarkable species of toad he noticed at Bahia. 

 *' Amongst the Batrachian reptiles, I found only one little toad, which was most sin- 

 gular from its color. If we imagine, first, that it had been steeped in the blackest 

 ink, and then, when dry, allowed to crawl over a board freshly painted with the bright- 

 est vermilion, so as to color the sides of its feet and parts of its stomach, a good idea 

 of its appearance will be gained. If it is an unnamed species, surely it ought to be 

 called diaboUcuSj for it is a fit toad to preach in the ear of Eve. Instead of being 

 nocturnal in its habits as other toads are, and living in damp and obscure recesses, it 

 crawls during the heat of the day about the dry sand hillocks and arid plains, where 

 not a single drop of water can be found. It must necessarily depend on the dew for 

 its moisture, and this probably is absorbed by the skin, for it is known that these rep- 

 tiles possess great powers of cutaneous absorption. At Maldonado I found one in a 

 situation nearly as dry as at Bahia Blanca, and, thinking to give it a great treat, car- 

 ried it to a pool of water ; not only was the little animal unable to swim, but I think 

 without help would soon have been drowned." 



The giant-toad (Bufo gigas, agiia), frequents the Brazilian campos in such numbers 

 that in the evening or after a shower of rain, when they come forth from their hiding- 

 places to regale on the damp and murky atmosphere, the earth seems literally to swarm 



