FROGS AND TOADS 
207 
object of aversion, and in country districts is not infrequently accredited with venomous 
properties. Toad-spawn is plentiful in ponds and ditches in the early spring, and may 
be distinguished from that of the frog by the fact of its being deposited in chain-like 
strings, the eggs being arranged in a double alternating row, instead of in irregular masses, 
as obtains with the last-named species. The individual eggs are, moreover, smaller, and 
deposited two or three weeks later in the season than those of the frog. A second and 
somewhat rarer British toad is known as the Natterjack. It may be distinguished from 
the ordinary species by the shorter hind limbs, the more prominent eyes, and the con- 
spicuous yellow line down the middle of its back. It is also somewhat more active than 
the common species. 
The last member of the group which demands brief notice is the singular Water-TOAD 
of Surinam. This animal, also known as the PiPA, is an inhabitant of the moist forest regions 
of the Guianas and Central America, and remarkable on account of the singular phenomena 
connected with its breeding habits. The eggs, from 60 to over 100 in number, are deposited 
by the female in the water in the ordinary manner, but at this stage they are taken in 
hand by the male and literally planted in the back of the female, whose skin in this region 
becomes abnormally soft and thickened at this season. The young toads undergo their 
complete development in the parental integument, each egg and its resulting embryo occupying 
a separate primarily cylindrical chamber, which by lateral pressure becomes hexagonal, resembling 
a honeycomb-cell. Eighty-two days are occupied from the time of the deposition of the eggs 
until the young toads emerge into the outer world, their appearance as they make their 
debut, with here a head and there one or it may be two limbs thrust out from the surface of 
the parent’s back, being highly grotesque. 
CHAPTER VII 
NElVrS AND SALAMANDERS 
■^HE Newts and Salamanders, or Tailed Amphibians, are distinguished from the preceding 
group of the Frogs and Toads by the retention of a tail throughout life. In this 
manner they very nearly resemble the advanced larval or tadpole phases of the latter. 
In some instances, in fact, the 
earlier or externally gill-bearing 
tadpole phase is persistent. The 
geographical distribution of the 
Salamander Tribe is much less 
extensive than that of the Frogs 
and Toads, but few are found south 
ofthe Equator, and they are entirely 
unknown in Australia or in Africa 
south of the Sahara. 
Two members of the group 
are indigenous to the British 
Islands, where they are familiarly 
known as Newts, Askers, Effets, 
or Efts. The larger and handsomer 
of the two, the Crested Newt, 
occurs in ponds and ditches 
throughout the warmer months of 
the year. It grows to a length of 
nearly 6 inches, of which the tail 
constitutes about one moiety. Its 
Photc by Jama B. Corr^ Esq. 
WARTED 
OR CRESTED NEWT 
Thn harmless little creature is accredited by many country people nvith nenomous 
properties 
