BULL-FROGS 361 



disappeared. The process went on until it became 

 necessary to introduce a fresh stock, and then the 

 problem was solved ; for the frog-tadpoles were so 

 ravenous, owing to prolonged fasting, that they fell 

 upon the new arrivals at once, seizing, shaking, and 

 worrying at them as soon as they entered the 

 water. Their carnivorous habits render bull-frogs 

 very unwelcome neighbours where it is desired to 

 stock a small body of water with fish, as the havoc 

 that they play among small and even half-grown 

 fry is very great. They are quite omnivorous in 

 their appetite for animal food, and sometimes come 

 to grief in their greedy attempts to secure it. I 

 once found a curiously illustrative specimen of the 

 risks to which they are exposed by their voracity. 

 It consisted of a dead bull-frog with the hind legs 

 of a toad projecting from its mouth and firmly 

 hooked down over the angles of the jaws. The 

 frog had evidently seized its prey by the muzzle, 

 but in the effort to gulp it down, had only succeeded 

 in wedging it into its gullet, where it remained 

 anchored. 



During their periods of activity they are seldom 

 to be found at any considerable distance from water, 

 and even at times when the greater number of them 

 are lying dormant, solitary specimens are sometimes 

 to be met with, sitting silent and motionless on the 

 bank of a pond, but ready on the least alarm to go 

 off in a gigantic leap that lands them souse into 



