THE EDIBLE FROG. I9 
with the head lifted up, the body raised in front and supported 
upon the fore feet, the attitude is more that of an animal of higher 
organisation than an humble Batrachian. Frogs feed on larve, 
aquatic insects, worms, and small molluscs. ‘They select their prey 
from living and moving creatures, for which they watch, and, when 
Fig. 4.~—The Edible Frog. 
within proper distance, they spring on them with extraordinary rapidity. 
A large Indian species (2. ¢igrina) has been seen to prey occasionally 
upon young sparrows. Far from being dumb, like many oviparous 
quadrupeds, frogs have the gift of voice. The females only produce 
a peculiar low note, caused by the air which vibrates in the interior 
of two vocal pouches placed on the sides of the neck ; but the cry 
of the male is sonorous, and heard at a great distance: it is a croak 
which the Greek poet Aristophanes endeavoured to imitate by the 
