FRESH-WATER ANIMALS. 305 



it up ill despair, and plunging up and down, now and then, 

 by a strong effort, leaping half out of the water. 



Frogs. 



During the breeding season every boy may sport his own 

 Aquarium in the shape of a pan or tub, in which he 

 may place spawn or young tadpoles for the purpose of 

 scientific observation. Here he may watch the develop- 

 ment of the animals in their various stages, until they 

 become reptiles, leave the water, perch on the edge of the 

 vessel, and leap away. 



It would be no bad plan to let this experiment take place 

 in a garden, where the permanent residence of Erogs might 

 be encouraged by continued supplies of moisture, so that 

 the pursuit of knowledge might be accompanied by useful 

 results. It is not perhaps generally known how^ useful 

 frogs and toads might be to the gardener, their food con- 

 sisting chiefly of those very pests which cost him so much 

 pains to get rid of. They will swallow slugs and insects 

 entire, and are sometimes seen to take several at a meal. 

 Instead, therefore, of persecuting and killing these useful 

 and innocent creatures, it would be advantageous to en- 

 courage them to a great extent, as their voracity in a garden 



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