276 
FROGS AND TOADS. 
Leaf-Frogs. 
Another American genus, containing a very large number of 
species, is that of the leaf-frogs ( Hylodes ), which deserves mention 
on account of the peculiar reproduction of one of its representatives, the so-called 
Antillian frog (H. martinicensis). These frogs differ from the group to which the 
last genus belongs by the absence of a bony style to the breast-bone, and the 
unwebbed hind-toes; while they are further characterised by the expansion of the 
tips of the toes into smooth discs, the horizontal pupil of the eye, and the presence 
of teeth on the vomer. The Antillian frog, or, as it is locally termed, coqui, is an 
inhabitant of several of the West Indian Islands, and may be recognised by its 
warty under surface; the general colour of the upper-parts being grey or brownish, 
with indistinct darker marking on the head and back, and crossbars on the hind¬ 
legs ; while there is a large dark mark on the temporal region, and another near 
the muzzle. The remarkable fact connected with the reproduction of this species 
is that such transformations as are undergone by the larvae take place within the 
large eggs ; the creatures emerging from which undergo no further alteration, with 
the exception of the absorption of the remnant of the tail. In this respect the 
coqui resembles the sharp-nosed frog of the Solomon Islands. 
As the typical representatives of the family, brief mention must 
be made of the piping frogs ( Leptodactylus ) of Central and South 
America, which differ from the preceding genera in having a dagger-like bony 
style to the breast-bone; and having the pupil of the eye horizontal, and the teeth 
on the vomers placed behind the apertures of the inner nostrils. Externally, these 
frogs closely resemble the ordinary European water-frogs, with the exception that 
the hind-toes are not webbed. In the males the humerus is expanded into a large 
flange-like plate; and in the breeding-season the whole fore-limb is much swollen 
for the purpose of firmly holding the female. These frogs derive their names 
from their loud pipe-like croaking, which varies in tone and intensity according 
to the species. Some are noteworthy from their habit of digging a hole in the 
ground near water, and lining it with a layer of scum, upon which the eggs are 
deposited, and left to hatch. The nests seem, however, always to be so placed 
that at a certain season they will be flooded by the rise of the neighbouring water. 
When first hatched, the tadpole is not unlike that of the frog, although with a 
relatively smaller tail; and when the nest becomes flooded the mode of life of its 
occupants is similar to that of the ordinary frog-larvae. 
Piping Frogs. 
The Toads. 
Family BUFONIDJE. 
Passing over the unimportant family of the Dendrophryniscidce, including 
only two small South American genera, our next representatives of the 
suborder are the true toads, which constitute a family distinguished by the 
absence of teeth in both jaws, and the expansion of the extremities of the 
transverse processes of the sacral vertebra. The vertebrae resemble those of 
the typical frogs, and there is the same absence of ribs as in the latter. The 
terminal joints of the toes are either blunt, or T-shaped; and in only two out of 
