122 Frogs, and their Contributions io Science. 



goldcn-co'ored, pellucid amber, of the only representative 

 of his race as it lived in primitive and prenoachian times. 



It is proper here that we should assign our subject its 

 precise zoological rank and position. Until recently, fol- 

 lowing the division made by Cuvier of the vertebrate 

 animals into four groups, viz : Mammals, Birds, Reptiles 

 and Fishes, frogs were classed with reptiles. We are glad, 

 as well for the name of the thing, as for its greater scien- 

 tific accuracy, to have them now ranked in an order by 

 themselves, that of amphibia, allied only to reptiles on the 

 one hand, and fishes on the other. Strictly speaking, how- 

 ever, they are not capable of a double life in air and 

 water, and therefore are not like the Banded Proteus, of 

 pure amphibian nature. It is true, the enrly tadpole por- 

 tion of their existence is passed in water, and respiration 

 effected by gills ; but lungs and gills are both necessary for 

 respiring in either element. The frog dies if long enough 

 immersed in water, and the tadpole quickly in the air. 



liana, the Latin name for frog, designates the genus 

 under which he is classed, while under the family name 

 of Ranidre, resembling frogs, we find included several 

 other genera of which the common garden and tree toads 

 are types. But it is with the genus Rana, that we are 

 concerned, or rather with the single member of that genus 

 known as the Rana fontinalis or liana esculenta, the common 

 spring or green frog. In doing this we pass by the attrac- 

 tions of that sturdy denizen of our pools and lakes, the 

 sonorous, rana pipiens, the bull-frog, the "bloody noun " of 

 our school boy days, the lithsome leaping leopard frog, 

 the Rana paluslris, and his sober drab-coated brother, the 

 wood-frog, the Rana sylvatica. 



The proper study of mankind, that is, of the animal 

 man, begins with his frame work, and after mastering this, 

 rises to the consideration of his organic life. His habits, 

 intellectual phenomena, and the philosophy of his being, 



