36 
TOAD. 
of the parent in miniature ; that the creature does 
not adhere to the back of the mother, but may 
be easily taken out as from a case, and again re- 
placed without injury. How they find subsistence 
in that situation he does not pretend to determine. 
The manner in which these very remarkable crea- 
tures manage their spawn is thus related by the 
doctor: the eggs are generated within the body 
of the female, and at the proper period are de- 
posited in the usual manner at the brink of some 
stagnant water. The male amasses the heap of 
eggs, and deposits them with great care on the 
back of the female, where, after impregnation, they 
are pressed into the cellules, which at that period 
open for their reception, and afterwards close over 
them. The eggs are thus retained till the period 
of their second birth, which happens in somewhat 
less than three months, when they emerge from 
the back of the parent completely formed. During 
the time of their concealment, however, they pass 
through the usual stages, first becoming tadpoles and 
then perfect toads. 
It appears from the observation of Dr. Fermin, 
that the pipa is only calculated by nature to pro- 
duce one brood, and that the number of young 
produced by the female he examined amounted to 
seventy-five ; so that this species is by no means so 
prolific as the rest of the genus. He noticed that 
the young were all excluded in five days after they 
first appeared. 
