THE FROGS. 171 



the sides, which vary in size. The under-parts are pale- 

 bluish, often marked with black. 



The female is much larger than the male, and has been 

 known to attain the length of 4 feet. 



Snakes will also take small fish. We were sketching 

 by the side of a lake, when suddenly a commotion in the 

 water near us attracted our attention. We saw a snake 

 had seized a small bleak, and was swimming towards the 

 shore with it in its mouth. The rest of the shoal were 

 following and surrounding the snake, as if inclined to 

 attack it, but it got safely to some hole in the bank, and 

 disappeared from view. 



The question has often been asked whether adders 

 swim. All snakes swim, and swim well, and most snakes 

 are extremely fond of water. 



THE FROGS. 



In the class Amphibia, are included our frogs, toads, 

 and newts, examples of which we may constantly come 

 across in our rambles. We have two, if not three, 

 species of frogs, the COMMON FROG (Rana tempomria), the 

 SCOTTISH FROG (Rana Scottca), and perhaps the EDIBLE 

 FROG (Rana esculentd). We all know the young of the 

 frogs the tadpoles which infest the stagnant waters, &c., 

 in the summer. The tadpole of the frog may be distin- 

 guished from that of the toad by it, being of a considerably 

 lighter colour, the toad tadpole being almost black. The 

 frog is distributed over all parts of our island, wherever 

 there is a pool or river, or even wherever there is suffi- 

 cient moisture necessary to preserve the respirable condi- 

 tion of the skin respiration being carried on both by 

 the lungs and the skin. The food of the frog consists of 

 various insects and small slugs, and on account of this 

 both frogs and toads are very useful in gardens. Bell 

 says : " The manner in which the frog takes its food is very 

 interesting. As in the toad, the tongue is doubled back 

 upon itself when at rest ; and being imbued with a viscous 

 secretion at the extremity, it is suddenly thrown forwards 



