The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 08 (of 10)Gadow, Hans
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 08 (of 10)
Gadow, Hans
Animals
Various suggestions have been made to explain the function of these discs.
Suction, adhesion, and glueing-on have been resorted to. Suction, through
production of a vacuum, is quite imaginary and does not exist. The question
has been thoroughly studied by Schuberg.[84] Adhesion is due to the
molecular attraction of two closely appressed bodies. The less air remains
between them the stronger it is. Consequently it can be increased by the
interference of a thin layer of fluid, which as everyday observation shows,
possesses both adhesion and cohesion. The more sticky the fluid, the more
effective it is, as shown experimentally by Schuberg, who moistened the
under surface of a glass plate, and pressed it against a little disc of
glass from which was suspended a weight. A disc of 16 square millimetres,
approximately equal to the aggregate surface of the 18 discs of a European
tree-frog of 4 grammes in weight, carried with water-adhesion {188}no less
than 14 grammes, with glycerine-solution 20 grammes,–more than sufficient
to suspend the frog. The sticky secretion of its glands greatly enhances
the adhesive power. Tree-frogs, when hopping on to a vertical plane of
clean glass, slide down a little, probably until the secretion stiffens, or
dries into greater consistency. After a few days I find the glass-walls of
their recently cleaned cage quite dirty, covered everywhere with their
finger-marks. On the other hand, wet leaves or moist glass-walls afford no
hold. The adhesion of these frogs is assisted in most cases by their soft
and moist bellies, just as a dead frog will stick to a pane of glass.
All Hylidae have a voice, often very loud, and enhanced by vocal sacs,
which are either internal, swelling out the throat, or external, paired or
unpaired.
The various Hylidae resort to all kinds of modes of rearing their broods.
Most of them lay many eggs, up to one thousand, in the water, not coherent
in strings but in clumps; others lay only a few, attach them to various
parts of the body, or, as in the genus _Nototrema_, the female receives
them in a dorsal pouch. These modifications will be described in connexion
with the different species.
SUB-FAM. 1. AMPHIGNATHODONTINAE.–_Both upper and lower jaw with teeth._
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