The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-08-30

ANY uAy III tIs early spring we may
go out and gather scores of tadpoles
or ''pollywogs" of frogs and toads in
! the nearest ditch, but it is seldom that
we stop for even a moment to ponder
on the wonder Of this transformation.
Would it not seem incredible to us if
we saw snake gradually change into
quadruped, such as a dog; or if a
sea turtle should rise from it's watery
home fullwinged gull? YET in reality
| a tadpole's development is no whit
less wonderful
A creature like a f1sh-with gills,
long tail fins, no limbs, and feeding
on vegetable matter leaps upon the
land in the shape of four-legged
fiesh-eating animal. with lungs but
or toad are laid in the water, en-
veloped in a jelly-like substance.
When the tiny pollywogs escape they
are furnished with external gills,
which soon disappear, giving place to
internal ones. AS time goes on the
hind legs and later the front legs APP
pear. the tail with it's fin shrivels up,
lungs replace the gilIs, and out hops
the tiny frog on land, thereafter to
feed on insects instead of vegetation.
In various parts of the world we
find many remarkable variations OF
this development, some of which in
weirdness and strangeness equal the
most imaginative fairy stories.
Mr.. Lydekker tells Us that there is a
Japanese frog that lays it's eggs in
the muddy edges of rice fields just
above the water. Now if the eggs are
removed from the round mass in
which they lie and placed in water the
germ will be killed, but if left alone
they hatch and jelly, then becoming
more liquid the first rain washes them
into the water. where they finish their
development Other frogs make their
little boats of leaves, in which the
eggs are laid, and the "tads" hatch
later escaping through a hole in the
bottom OF their boat.
Both male and female of a South
American tree frog help each other
roll smaf1 leaf into a funnel shape,
and from this the tadpoles, after
Matching, are washed into the water.
Sometimes the leaf may happen to be
several inches from the water but the
little pollywogs do not give up hope.
They have the power of wriggling or
Tipping themselves with their tails
some distance along the ground, and
many thus find a way into the fluid,
on reaching which their life at this
time depends.
One extreme case is that of a frog
of Brazil, which deposits it's eggs in
banana leaves far from water, and
whose tadpoles pass through their en-
tire development in the mass of frothy
jelly which protects the eggs the jelly
gradually decreasing in volume, so
that it is probable that the little fell
lows feed upon it.
But we have not half exhausted the
wonders of tadpoies' lives. The Surf
nam toad is the best example of those
amphibians which personally care for
their eggs and tadpoles throughout
development. The male of this frog
takes the eggs as Trey are laid and
fastens them by nnea rs of a mucilagfn-
Gus substance to ths broad fiat back
of the female. The Skin gradually
thickens, and grows up about the
eggs until each is shut in q little box
of skin, furnished with lid. In these
cells the tadpoies hatch in little less
than three months. and here they find
sufficient nourishment to enable them
to 4evelop into adult frogs. when they
push open the lids and make their es-
cape into the world. TIE females of a
South American frog have a pouch on
the back in which this transformation
takes place.
Sti1l another frog carries the eggs in
saucer-nke depressions on the back,
and the curious fact about these is
that the development takes place with
in the egg itself, the young Matching
in the form of perfect frogs which
show a. decided dislike for water.
In the western part of our own coun-
try the tadpoles behave in unusual
ways. The rain pools in which the
eggs of these frogs are laid dry up in
a very short time but the tadpoles
are forearmed against such calamity
by having their legs developed at a
very early stage of their existence,
before the gills are lost. SO that they
may easily and quickly make their
way overland to a neighboring pool,
which has not yet evapcra ted. Other
tadpoles in the United States have no
such early Development OF legs, but
they are provided for by their father
frog. who carries them attached to his
back. either by means of suckers or
sticky secretion. transporting them
from pool to pool as each in succession
dries I'D.
The tadpoles of Darwin's frogs have,
probably. the quaintest nursery" or
hatchery of all. During the breeding
season the male frog develops a great
pouch of skin or the throat, and in
this the ten OF a dozen large eggs are
placed: here they hatch, and 1t Is from
the edge of their fathers mouth that
the young frogs obtain their first
glance at the world about them.-New
York Post.