132 
ANIMAL CURIOSITIES 
are resting upon a twig they grasp their 
support in a manner similar to that of a 
monkey. 
Other Brazilian tree-frogs fashion mud walls 
in the shallow puddles at the edges of streams 
and deposit their eggs within the enclosed 
area; while another species places its ova 
within the sheaths of decaying banana leaves 
and surrounds them with a frothy substance. 
The breeding habits of the Alytes or mid¬ 
wife toad are very peculiar, for the male 
collects the strings of eggs laid by the female 
and entwines them around his legs, after 
which he hides himself in a hole in the ground 
or under a rock until the young are ready to 
emerge, when he makes his way to the water. 
During the incubating period of the eggs the 
devoted father only leaves his hiding-place 
for brief periods at night in order to obtain 
food and to moisten the eggs in the dew¬ 
laden grass. The midwife toad, which grows 
to a length of about two inches, is found in 
France, Western Germany, Belgium, Holland, 
Spain, Portugal and Switzerland. 
Even more remarkable are the habits of 
Darwin’s frog, a small species from Brazil 
that has a sharp and pointed snout terminating 
in a tubular projection. As in the above- 
mentioned Alytes toad, it is the male that 
