FROGS AND TOADS 235

clature which should be noted, and that is the
abandonment of the old designation of the class,
Batrachia, for the more appropriate Amphzbza.

ECAUDATA.—This is the highest order, and
it consists of the frogs and toads and species close
akin to them. There are over 1,000 species of
these tailless genera, which are to be found almost
everywhere, except in the polar regions. They vary
in size from Rana Guppyt, nearly a foot over all,
found in the Solomon Islands, down to the tiny
tree-frogs. Some frogs have no tongue; to this
group belongs the Surinam toad (Pzpa americana), in
which the eggs are placed by the male in cells on
the female’s back, where they stay until their
metamorphosis is complete. This toad, like all the
Pipide, is toothless, whereas the other tongueless
toads have teeth in the upper jaw; one of them,
Xenopus levis, living in tropical Africa, having a ten-
tacle extending backwards on each side of the head.

The Bufonide are the true toads. They have
no teeth in the upper jaw, and the sacral vertebra
is hatchet-shaped. One of the group (Wototrema
marsupiatum) may be called a marsupial, for the
female has a pouch into which the ova are introduced
as soon as they are laid, and where they remain
until they are hatched. One of these toads was
found by Mr. Whymper on Antisana, over 13,000
feet above the sea. Another worthy of note is the
horned toad (Ceratophrys), which has horns over its
eyes and bony plates in the skin of its back. The
typical genus Bufo has no teeth at all; two out of