138 THE LIVING WORLD. 
features, but is infinitely more curious and interesting, rendered so by the very 
singular habit which the male frog has of carrying about with him the eggs 
laid by his mate. So soon as the female voids her spawn, her attentive com¬ 
panion takes immediate possession and 
fastens them, by means of a glutinous 
substance exuded from his mouth, to his 
legs and quarters, where they remain 
until the young are plainly to be seen 
through the transparent envelope. At 
this stage, which is a month after the 
spawning, the patient parent proceeds to 
the pond and there divests himself of the 
burden, to which he never after gives any 
heed. In a short while, however, the 
young burst their envelope and betake 
themselves to active life in the water, 
until they develop into the mature frog , 
when they repair to the land. 
The Surinam Toad (Pipa Americana ), 
however, is even more singular than the 
banded toad, in that it rears its young in 
a yet more curious manner. When the 
female lays her eggs the male is always 
near at hand, whose office it is to per¬ 
form the very strange operation of placing them upon the female’s back, to 
which they adhere by reason of a secretion which exudes from her skin at 
this time. This process is an exceedingly interesting one. The male takes 
the eggs in his fore feet, which he 
uses with all the dexterit}^ of true 
hands, fixes each egg carefully in 
place, smooths the whole over and 
then apparently blesses his mate and 
wishes her a God-speed in her ma¬ 
ternity. In a few days the eggs be¬ 
come embedded within the skin, each 
having a separate cell, in which it is 
incubated and retained until the young 
have all their limbs and can burst 
their envelope and move freely on 
the ground. 
This very strange creature is found 
in Surinam, from whence it takes its 
name, and also in several other parts 
of South America. The general ap¬ 
pearance of the toad , even when not 
enlarged and disfigured by the young 
in its back, is very repulsive. The head is shapeless, in that it resembles 
nothing else in nature, the nose terminating in a flexible snout, and the body 
being covered with horny projections, on which account it is sometimes called 
the wart toad. 
SURINAM TOAD. 
HORNED FROG. 
