242 ENTOMOLOGY. 



Frogs will live several days, although the brain be 

 taken away. 



The skin of a tadpole, after being pierced by the 

 feet, forms, when dry, a kind of epidermis, and the 

 tail is entirely absorbed. 



Star-shot Jelly. 



This is considered to be the glaire which surrounds 

 the eggs of the frog, brought into this state by a frog 

 having been swallowed by a bird, and the warmth 

 and moisture of the stomach having made the jelly 

 in the oviducts expand so much, that the bird is 

 obliged to reject it by vomiting. 



Live Toads in Stones. 



The common food of the toad is small worms and 

 insects of every description ; but its favourite food is 

 bees and wasps. 



Spallanzani kept frogs, salamanders, and snakes, 

 in a torpid state in an ice-house, where they remained 

 three years and a half, yet readily revived when ex- 

 posed to the influence of a warm atmosphere. 



These experiments give countenance to the stories 

 of toads being found enclosed in stones, a fact, how- 

 ever, which is not yet conclusively established. These 

 animals may have entered the deep crevice of a rock, 

 and during their torpidity been covered with sand, 

 which afterwards concreted around them. In such a 

 situation, it is impossible to fix limits to the period of 

 their dormant state. 



In general, when the temperature of the air sinks 

 below 50 Fahrenheit, reptiles prepare for their win- 

 ter slumbers. 



Lizards. 



The foot of a lizard, which runs on the roofs of 

 rooms with its head and back downwards, is so con- 



