182 INTRODUCTION OF PROGS INTO IRELAND. 



and placed in the University Park, and that as the animals al 

 perished, the ditches in the park were afterwards stocked with 

 frog-spawn, several bottles full of which were imported for the 

 purpose. In this way it was, that the Frog became established 

 in the island. But at first it spread very slowly, for so late as 

 the year 1720, the animal was nowhere to be seen in Ireland ex- 

 cepting in the neighbourhood of the spot in which it was first 

 planted the University Park. From about this time, however, 

 its distribution seems to have gone on more rapidly, and to have 

 attracted some little attention, as may be gathered from a curious 

 allusion to the subject in an anonymous pamphlet of Dean 

 Swift's, published about the year 1726, in which, speaking of the 

 habit then becoming common of insuring houses against fire, he 

 says, "The (Insurance) Society marks on our houses (under 

 which might properly be written ' The Lord have mercy upon 

 us') spread faster and farther than the colony of frogs ." At the 

 present day, the Frog is firmly established in almost every part 

 of the country, and it would task the powers of any modern St. 

 Patrick to expel him from his haunts. 



The Tree-Frogs have no representatives amongst our native 

 Batrachians, being confined exclusively to the warmer climes of 

 the south. They are usually smaller in size, brighter in colour, 

 and more elegant in form than their terrestrial allies ; and they 

 live during the summer months almost exclusively on trees. 

 They are distinguished from the ordinary Frogs by having the 

 extremities of their toes dilated into little knobs, which usually 

 exude a sticky secretion, of the greatest service to the animals in 

 their arboreal evolutions. In pursuing their insect prey on the 

 trees and bushes they move about with great activity ; some- 

 times stealing softly towards the intended victim, in the manner 

 of a cat towards a mouse, and then seizing it with a sudden 

 spring. When satisfied with food, and desirous of a little rest, 

 the Tree-Frogs frequently suspend themselves by their hind feet, 

 or, more curious still, attach themselves by means of a glutinous 

 secretion to the under surface of a leaf, and so rest concealed 

 beneath its shade. 



Both Frogs and Toads are regular croakers, as everybody 

 knows, but everybody is not aware how various and diversified in 

 the different species is this vocal performance. The croak of the 

 common Frog is a rather dull and uninteresting affair, but his 



