{151}The most characteristic feature of the skin,[75] which has exactly the same structure in both sexes, is the papillae, which are spread over the whole surface, except on the webs of the toes, on the cornea and on the star-shaped points of the fingers. Each papilla carries a little horny spike, and a poison-gland frequently opens near its base. Larger poison-glands exist on the dorsal and ventral side in four rows, and smaller glands open upon the sides of the body, but there are no parotoid complexes. Slime-glands occur all over the surface. The epidermis consists of the usual layers, namely the Malpighian, the stratum corneum, and the part which is shed periodically. The latter is completely horny, appearing to be structureless like a cuticle, but it is in reality composed of polygonal cells with flattened nuclei; each little spike is one modified horny cell. The whole outermost layer contains black-brown pigment. The upper portion of the cutis is devoid of pigment, then follows a layer of clusters of ramified dark pigment-cells, and lastly the rest of the cutis. Each of the four fingers ends in a four-armed star, the tips of which again carry four or five sensory papillae. The cartilage of the terminal phalanges is correspondingly star-shaped. According to Klinckowstroem these toads, which are entirely aquatic, are easily collected at the end of the long dry period, when they are all confined to the half-dried-up pools. But they do not spawn there. This happens after the rains have inundated the forest, and then it is very difficult to get the females with eggs on their backs. Each of the eggs, when once they have been glued on to the back, sinks into an invagination of the skin. The initial stages are probably the same as those caused by the eggs on the belly of _Rhacophorus reticulatus_ (see p. 248). Later, each egg is quite concealed in a cavity with a lid. These cavities are simply pouches of the skin, and are not formed by enlarged glands as has been suggested by some anatomists. Each cavity consists of the epidermal pouch and the lid. How the latter is produced is not known. According to the authors quoted above, the lid looks like a shiny or sticky layer which has hardened into horn-like consistency. It lies exactly like a lid upon the rim of the pouch itself, and is certainly not in structural or organic continuity with the epidermis. Most probably it is produced by the remnant of the egg-shell itself, which, after the larva is hatched, is cast up to and remains on the top of the cup. {152}Bartlett[76] has described the spawning of specimens in the Zoological Gardens in London.