Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899: Volume LV, No. 3, July 1899Various
Religion
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899: Volume LV, No. 3, July 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Of the twelve genera and fifty species of known North American frogs
and toads, Mr. William L. Sherwood says, in his paper in the
Proceedings of the Linnæan Society, New York, that five genera and
fifty species are found in the vicinity of New York city. Some of
these are less secretive in habit than salamanders, and therefore much
better known. As ponds and ditches have been drained, the aquatic
forms have removed to greater distances from human dwellings, and only
the more terrestrial toad and arboreal tree frogs have remained. All
of our species have been described, but the author believes that the
first mention of the cricket frog being found in this region is in a
paper on salamanders, read by him in 1895. The breeding habits of
these animals vary, but all lay their eggs in water or moist places.
The purely amphibious and really aquatic species are three. Of the
other eight species, one is burrowing, five tend to be terrestrial,
inhabiting the woods and fields, and two are arboreal. The eggs are
laid in gelatinous envelopes, which swell after leaving the adult. At
the time of hatching the young tadpole has three pairs of external
gills, but no mouth or anal opening. Two small suckers, just back of
where the mouth is to appear, enable it to cling to aquatic plants and
prevent its dropping to the bottom of the pond and getting smothered
in the mud. It soon develops into a tadpole, and proceeds to its
development; but if prevented from coming to the surface of the water
no metamorphosis takes place, and the changes are delayed by cold and
dark.
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