This species is interesting as affording another instance of shortened development, the whole metamorphosis being gone through within the egg. Mr. Guppy, its discoverer, has supplied the following notes: "During a descent from one of the peaks of Faro Island I stopped at a stream some 400 feet above the sea, where my native boys collected from the moist crevices of the rocks close to the water a number of transparent gelatinous balls, rather smaller than a marble. Each of these balls contained a young frog, about 4 inches in length, apparently fully developed, with very long hind-legs and short fore-legs, no tail, and bearing on the sides of the body small tufts of what seemed to be branchiae. On my rupturing the ball or egg in which the little animal was doubled up the tiny frog took a marvellous leap into its existence, and disappeared before I could catch it. On reaching the ship an hour after, I found that some of the eggs which I had put in a tin had been ruptured on the way by the jolting, and the liberated frogs were leaping about with great activity. On placing some of them in an open-mouthed bottle, 8 inches long, I had to put the cover on, as they kept leaping out." Boulenger[115] has figured and further described the eggs and young. The egg measures 6-10 mm. in diameter, and is a transparent capsule in which the young frog is coiled up in the same way as figured by Peters in _Hylodes martinicensis_; but none of the specimens, which are in an advanced stage of development, show anything of a tail. There are no gills, but on each side {261}of the abdomen are several regular transverse folds, the function of which is probably that of breathing organs, like the tail of _Hylodes_. The tip of the snout is furnished with a small conical protuberance projecting slightly through the delicate envelope of the egg, and evidently used to perforate that envelope. _R. guppyi_, likewise an inhabitant of the Solomon Islands, is a giant among frogs. It was discovered by Mr. Guppy on the Shortland Islands. The type-specimen measures 165 mm. = 6½ inches in length! The skin of the upper parts is covered with minute warts, and forms a strong fold above the distinct, but small, tympanum. General colour dark olive brown above, dirty white below. _R. tigrina_ is a common species of Eastern Asia, including the Malay Islands. On account of the strength of its voice, and its size, which is said to reach 7 inches, it is called the "Indian Bullfrog." Mainly aquatic, it has a strong cutaneous fringe along the outer side of the fifth toe. The skin of the back is thrown into longitudinal folds, and a strong fold marks the upper border of the tympanum. The general colour above is olive brown, with dark spots, often with a light vertebral line; the under parts are white. The male has a pair of large external vocal sacs. _R. gracilis_ has the same distribution, but it remains much smaller, and the toes are only half, instead of fully, webbed.