112 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
[n. zool. gal. 
famished with two eyelids; their eggs are generally united together into 
a mucilaginous cord. The hind legs of the young animal appear before 
the front. The young before their change feed on vegetables, and the 
adults on small living animals. 
This order is divided into two sections, the first ( Phaneroglossce ) 
having a distinct and exsertile tongue, containing the family of Tree 
Frogs (Hyladje), Frogs (Randle), and the Toads (Bufonidje). 
The second, which only contains the family of Tedons ( Pipridje), has 
been called Phrynaglossce because they have scarcely any appearance 
of a tongue. 
The family of Tree Frogs ( Hyladje, Case ) are peculiar for having 
the end of their toes dilated into small pads, which enables them to 
attach themselves to, and to walk with their body suspended on, the 
under sides of smooth bodies, they thus attach themselves to the un¬ 
der sides of the smoothest leaves, and fix themselves directly that 
they alight on any body; and, like many reptiles, they have the faculty 
of changing the colour of their skin, which often enables them to elude 
the vigilance of their enemies. The upper jaw is toothed like the 
Frogs. They are most common in tropical America, a few are found 
in Asia and Polynesia, only two or three in Africa, and a single 
species is found in Europe. They are divided into many genera by 
the form of the tongue, the disposition of the teeth, and the form of the 
head. In Polypedates, Racophora, Lemnodytes, and Ixale , the tongue 
is forked; in Acris and Eucnemis it is cordate, and in Micrhyla it is long 
and ribbon-shaped. The toes of Crossodactylus are not webbed, but 
are fringed with a free membrane on each side. The genera Phyllo - 
batus , Hylodus , and Phyllomedusa also have free toes, and the latter 
have the first finger and the first two toes opposable to the others. 
The family of Frogs (Randle, Case ) have the upper jaw furnished 
with teeth, like the Tree Frogs, but the ends of their toes are not, or 
scarcely, dilated ; they have always four fingers and five toes, which are 
usually united by a w T eb ; there generally exists at the base of the first 
finger a more or less distinct prominence, which proves 5n dissec¬ 
tion to be the rudiment of a thumb, and at the outer edge of the ankle 
there is generally a tubercle, which in some genera, as Pelobates and Sea- 
phiopes, is expanded into a large oval disk with free edges ; this tubercle 
is produced by a bone analogous to the first cuneiform bone in the human 
ankle, and is not, as some have supposed, the rudiment of a sixth toe. 
They are generally quite smooth beneath, and more or less tubercular 
or glandular on the back and sides. Tschudi, who has particularly 
studied these animals, has divided the genera into four smaller groups, 
as the Cystignathus, which have an elongated vaulted head, and long 
free toes. The Frogs ( Rana ) differ from the former in the toes being 
more or less webbed ; some of these, as the Pseudis, have the fingers 
opposable to each other; some have the drum of the ear hid under 
the skin, as Cycloramphe and Discoglossus. The Peltocephali are 
peculiar for having the-bones of their skull only covered with a thin 
hard skin. The Horned Toads, as the genera Ceratophys and Mega- 
lopkys , have a very broad angular head, obliquely prolonged in front, 
and the upper part of the upper eyelid produced into a point. The 
Swollen Frogs have a rounder head and short body and limbs; their skin 
is generally warty like the toad’s, but the Pelobates are smooth, and 
have long limbs; the drum of the ear of Pelobates , Pyxicephalus , and 
