FROGS, TOADS, SALAMANDERS, AND HOW THEY REPRODUCE

An exciting introduction, and not just because Patent explores some of the bizarre byways of amphibian reproduction -- like the Surinam toads which hatch live from sacs carried on the mother's back, or the eternally immature axolotl salamander which will change into a ""new"" adult form, not found in nature, if given a dose of thyroid or pituitary extract. Patent has clearly given some thought as to how to make her material both easy and vivid -- her step-by-step description of embryo development is simultaneously precise and suspenseful, and her discussion of how frogs mate anticipates the very questions readers might be curious about (""You may wonder how one slippery frog can hang onto another slippery frog in the water""). Not a collector's miscellany like the Zapplers' useful Amphibians as Pets, this gives us the gist of current research free from the spiritless textbook drone that too often is the price we pay.