FROG. 



551 



does not contain quite so much muscle on the hind 

 legs. It is not nearly so abundant in Britain as the 

 common one. It is of a more handsome form, and 

 more finely coloured. The muzzle is pointed ; the 

 posterior part of the body narrow, and the spine at 

 that part arched. The upper part is green, marked 

 with three longitudinal lines, the one on the middle of 

 the back, forming a furrow, and the two lateral ones 

 elevated ridges or margins. These lines are distinct 

 and of a yellow colour ; the upper part of the body 

 is whitish, marked with blackish spots. 



This species is far more abundant in France than 

 in Britain ; and in the vicinity of Paris, and in many 

 other parts of the country, it is the common frog of 

 ordinary parlance. It is a very active animal, and as 

 is indeed the case with all frogs, it swims in the same 

 way that man does, giving the most powerful stroke 

 with the hind legs, but keeping stroke with the fore 

 ones also. It is also an adroit leaper, and will leap 

 to a very considerable height, and catch a fly or 

 other winged insect with great accuracy. The very 

 warm weather is mentioned as the time when it is in 

 the most active state ; and it can bear the strength of 

 the sun on the warmest days of summer. It then 

 takes post among the aquatic herbage on the margins 

 of the pools and streams, and sits watching for its 

 prey, with its head immoveable, its legs prepared for 

 the leap, and its eye intently looking out, and undaz- 

 zled by the most powerful heat of the sun. When a 

 fly comes within the range of its powers, which it 

 appears to be capable of estimating with very great 

 exactness, it darts with the speed of an arrow, and 

 very seldom misses its object. Without reference to 

 the estimation in which it is held by the continental 

 gourmands, the edible frog is far from being an unin- 

 teresting reptile ; but as it has no value for the larder 

 in Britain, it is not studied or appreciated to the ex- 

 tent which, in a natural history point of view alone, 

 it seems to deserve. 



NATTER-JACK FROG (R. rubcta). This is also a 

 British species, though understood to be more rare 

 and local than the esculent frog ; but, for the reason 

 mentioned in noticing that one, it is probably much 

 more abundant than is generally supposed. It differs 

 in its habits from the other two British frogs, being 

 found chiefly on the heaths and commons which are 

 comparatively dry, with only occasional pools and 

 bushes. It is to be found on most commons of this 

 description south of the Thames, and also in some 

 parts of the midland counties. It is covered with 

 small punctured tubercles, which give it something 

 the appearance of a toad. It is much more broad 

 and blunt posteriorly than the other frogs, and its 

 hind legs are shorter, feebler, and much less supplied 

 with muscle. Its gait is peculiar, not being either 

 the leaping of a frog or the crawling of a toad, but 

 something intermediate between the two, a lumbering 

 and unseemly sort of walk, by which, and by its 

 tuberculated skin, it is easily known. The colour on 

 the upper part is yellow, marbled with brown, and 

 there is a tolerably well-defined yellow line down the 

 middle of the back. It is an obscure-living reptile, 

 and not often seen, so that little or nothing is known 

 of its manners. 



Tin: DOTTED FROG (R. punciata) is ash-coloured 

 on the upper part with small green dots. The feet 

 are marked by transverse bands, and the toes of the 

 hind feet are webbed for only part of their length. 

 It has been obs-erved in the neighbourhood of Paris, 



and in some other parts of France, but it is as rare 

 there, and its manners are as little known, as the 

 natter-jack in England. The species which have been 

 seen are very small, not exceeding one inch in length ; 

 but whether it attains a larger size than this is not 

 known. 



THE PLAITED FROG (R. plicata). This is also a 

 small species, about the same size as the dotted frog. 

 It is a native of the warmer parts of France, and pro- 

 bably of the north of Europe generally. It gets its 

 trivial name of plaited from having two transversely 

 oblique plaits or folds upon each plane. Its colours 

 are, brown on the upper part, and grey on the under. 

 The toes of its fore-feet are entirely free, and those of 

 the hind feet are only half webbed. Those semi- 

 palmated frogs indicate a much less aquatic habit than 

 those which have the toes completely webbed. 



ALPINE FROG (R. Alpina}. So little is known of 

 the species which has been described under this name, 

 that it is not very easy to decide whether it be really 

 a distinct species, or only a coloured variety of the 

 common frog. This is the more puzzling, that, in the 

 mountainous parts of this country, the frogs are small 

 and very dark in the colour. The writer of this 

 article has often seen them in the Highlands of Scot- 

 land, but did not at the time examine if they had any 

 characters specifically different from those of the 

 common frog. The Alpine frog is described by 

 Laurenti as being wholly black, and as being found 

 only in the mountain of Schneeberg, in Austria, a 

 mountain which is famed for the richness of its 

 botany. 



These are the principal species of European frogs 

 that have been noticed and described ; but the pro- 

 bability is, that there are many more species ; for 

 here, as in the case of the whole class of reptiles, 

 the information which we possess bears no proportion 

 whatever to the extent of the subject. In the case 

 of the extra-European frogs, it is, as might be ex- 

 pected, still worse. Many species have no doubt 

 been named, but little is known of them, and our 

 limits will permit us to mention only a few. 



SURINAM FROG, OR JACKIE (7^. paradoxn). In 

 the tales of describers of animals, this is one of the 

 most notorious, if not celebrated, of all the foreign 

 frogs. The trivial name paradoxa is absurdly ap- 

 plied, and should be discarded, were it not that it is 

 a memorial of the credulous folly of former naturalists, 

 and may be a beacon to their successors. There is 

 no " paradox " about this frog, or indeed about any 

 animal, for all are equally well adapted to the pur- 

 poses which they answer in nature, and the paradox 

 is the sole property of the ignorant describer. Hence 

 it were advisable that the paradoxes of naturalists 

 should be treated in the same manner as the para- 

 doxes of the Vicar of Wakefield. " The world said 

 nothing at all about my paradoxes," said the simple- 

 hearted Vicar ; and truly it were wise, that not the 

 public only, but the naturalists themselves, said 

 nothing at all about their paradoxes. 



The paradox, while it remained one, was this : 

 Other frogs are tadpoles, which have something of 

 the fish about them, and these tadpoles turn to frogs ; 

 but in the case of the Surinam frogs the order of 

 things was completely reversed. The story was, 

 that this creature, after having been once a frog, 

 afterwards turned to a fish ; that the fish was much 

 larger than the frog, and that it was eaten by the 

 natives under the name of " Jackie," or the frog-fish. 



