58 INTRODUCTION. 



breeding season is mentioned in the chapter on 

 pairing and oviposition. All our species also spend a 

 certain period of their existence as gill-breathing, 

 fish-like larvas : there are exceptional forms which 

 entirely dispense with the larval life, and hop oat of 

 the egg in the perfect condition, but we have not to 

 deal with them here, for they are only found between 

 the tropics. Even our most aquatic species leave the 

 water after metamorphosis, and young specimens of 

 liana esculenta and Bombinator are terrestrial, or live 

 more on the border than actually in the water until 

 able to breed. Sexual maturity is not attained before 

 the third or fourth year in males, a year or two later 

 in females — of the larger species, at any rate. The 

 growth is slow, and so prolonged that of certain species, 

 such as liana and Bufo, one may say the older the 

 specimen the larger ; the gigantic size attained by 

 some in secluded localities appears to be mainly 

 due to the immunity they have enjoyed for a great 

 number of years. Individuals of the common toad 

 have been observed for very long periods, and it 

 is probably no exaggeration to assess the possible 

 duration of life in that species at a century. Among 

 the smaller forms a tree-frog has been kept in con- 

 finement for twenty-two years. 



The food consists exclusively of live prey ; no 

 insect or worm will be taken that has not moved in 

 the presence of the consumer. But it is easy to deceive 

 a Batrachian by agitating any object ; the edible frog is 

 thus captured in France by means of a red rag put on 

 to a line. In fact, any moving object of commensu- 

 rate size will be taken, to be afterwards rejected if dis- 

 tasteful. Discoglossus and Boittliinatur alone among our 

 Batrachians are able to seize their prey under water. 

 The thoroughly nocturnal forms cannot be induced 

 to feed in the daytime. Frogs and toads occasionally 

 display cannibal instincts, swallowing young of their 

 own species. The prey is secured by throwing out 

 the tongue, except in the Disaxjlossidai, which, not 



