The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 08 (of 10)Gadow, Hans
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 08 (of 10)
Gadow, Hans
Animals
Of _C. solomonis_ of the Solomon Islands little is known about the
propagation, although the large size of the egg, which measures 5 mm. in
diameter, suggests that the young undergo most or the whole of their
metamorphosis within the egg.
_Chiromantis_ is distinguished by the peculiar arrangement of the fingers,
the first and second being opposed to the others; their terminal phalanges
are obtuse and support small knobs or discs. The general shape is that of a
frog with long and slender hind-limbs. The tympanum is distinct.
_Ch. xerampelina_, the type-species, was discovered by Peters at
Mozambique; it is a middle-sized frog, about 2 inches in length, brown
above with reddish spots on the sides; the male is devoid of vocal sacs.
_Ch. petersi_, a native of East Africa, differs from the preceding by the
possession of an internal vocal sac. _Ch. rufescens_ = _guineensis_ shows
very little of the typical grasping arrangement of the fingers; the two
inner ones are separated from the two outer fingers by a wide gap, but they
all lie in the same plane, are much webbed and possess large discs, so that
by the latter two characters a link is formed with _Rhacophorus_, to which
the present genus is closely allied. Total length about 2½ inches.
Buchholz[109] has observed the peculiar breeding habits of this rather
large, brown, and slender tree-frog in the Cameroons. In the month of June
he found on the leaves of a low tree, standing in the water, a white foamy
mass, like the froth of a broken egg, containing a number of newly hatched
larvae and quite transparent eggs. Within three or four days this mass
became {245}fluid, and the larvae, provided with external gills and a long
tail, swam about in the slime. In the natural course of events the larvae
are probably washed down into the water by the rain. He found that the
female deposits the eggs in the foamy mass at night, during the months of
June and July, on various kinds of trees, either between the roots or in a
cavity formed by gluing together several leaves, sometimes 10 feet and more
above the water, or near the margin. On one occasion the mother was seen
sitting upon the foamy mass, clasping the same with its four limbs.
_Rhacophorus._–This large genus, containing more than forty species, has a
curious distribution. At least one dozen species are found in Madagascar,
eight or nine in Ceylon, the rest in Southern India, the Himalayas, the
Malay Islands and Philippines, extending northwards through China and
Southern Japan. Therefore this genus, with the three species of the African
_Chiromantis_, extends over the whole of the Palaeotropical region. The
generic name has reference to the possession by many species of little
dermal flaps, especially at the inner side of the heel, and it has nothing
to do with the parachute-like use of the hands and feet of certain species,
to be mentioned presently.
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