370 



TAILLESS BATKACHIANS. 



lightly over the most flexible branches. During the whole siunmer 

 they live in this manner on trees, pursuing insects, but in wmter 

 they retire to the bottom of the water, like ordinary Frogs, and do 



Fig. 307.— tree frog. 



not return again to the humid foliage where they reside, until after 

 they have deposited their eggs. The common Tree-frog (Bana 

 arhoria) is of an apple-green colom- above, and pale beneath, with a 

 black and yellow line along each side. 



The Toads {Bufo) have a thick-set body covered with warts, from 

 which exudes a viscid liumour. Their hind legs are not so much 

 elongated as those of Frogs, and they leap badly ; in general, they 

 creep rather than walk, and when surprised, instead of taking to 

 flight, they stop suddenly and inflate their body, so as to render it tense 

 and elastic, and cause the skin to pour out a white and acrid fluid. 

 Sometimes tliey endeavour to defend themselves by biting, but their 

 mouth is quite destitute of teeth. These hideous reptiles generally 

 conceal themselves in sLady humid places, from which they do not 

 go out except at night, oi- immediately after the warm and abundant 

 rains of summer. Like Frogs, they feed on small mollusks, worms, 

 and living insects, but they are more terrestrial in their habits. 

 They betake themselves in summer to pools and streams, where the 

 females resort to deposit their eggs. In countries where the winter 

 is cold, they pass the season in holes in a benumbed state. Their 

 respiration then becomes extremely limited, and the contact of a 

 very small quantity of air with the skin is sufficient to maintain their 

 existence. When placed in situations where evaporation is very 

 inconsiderable, they can live in this way for a long time. This ex- 

 plains how it is that Toads enclosed in plaster, or shut up in holes 



