The last member of the group which demands brief notice is the singular Water-toad of Surinam. This animal, also known as the Pipa, is an inhabitant of the moist forest regions of the Guianas and Central America, and remarkable on account of the singular phenomena connected with its breeding habits. The eggs, from 60 to over 100 in number, are deposited by the female in the water in the ordinary manner, but at this stage they are taken in hand by the male and literally planted in the back of the female, whose skin in this region becomes abnormally soft and thickened at this season. The young toads undergo their complete development in the parental integument, each egg and its resulting embryo occupying a separate primarily cylindrical chamber, which by lateral pressure becomes hexagonal, resembling a honeycomb-cell. Eighty-two days are occupied from the time of the deposition of the eggs until the young toads emerge into the outer world, their appearance as they make their début, with here a head and there one or it may be two limbs thrust out from the surface of the parent's back, being highly grotesque.
CHAPTER VII.
NEWTS AND SALAMANDERS.
The Newts and Salamanders, or Tailed Amphibians, are distinguished from the preceding group of the Frogs and Toads by the retention of a tail throughout life. In this manner they very nearly resemble the advanced larval or tadpole phases of the latter. In some instances, in fact, the earlier or externally gill-bearing tadpole phase is persistent. The geographical distribution of the Salamander Tribe is much less extensive than that of the Frogs and Toads, but few are found south of the Equator, and they are entirely unknown in Australia or in Africa south of the Sahara.
Photo by James B. Corr, Esq.] [Dundee.
COMMON OR SMOOTH NEWT.
This harmless little creature is accredited by many country people with venomous properties.
Two members of the group are indigenous to the British Islands, where they are familiarly known as Newts, Askers, Effets, or Efts. The larger and handsomer of the two, the Crested Newt, occurs in ponds and ditches throughout the warmer months of the year. It grows to a length of nearly 6 inches, of which the tail constitutes about one moiety. Its colour is more usually blackish or olive-brown with darker circular spots above, and yellow or orange-red with black spots or marbling beneath, while the sides are speckled white. In the breeding-season the colours are more especially brilliant, and it is at this time that the male develops the serrated crest along the middle of its back, from which it takes its title.