152 THE FROG CHAP. 



temperature of the body more than very slightly above 

 that of the surrounding medium. In warm-blooded animals, 

 such as ourselves, the temperature is regulated, according 

 to the season, by a greater or less evaporation of water 

 from the surface of the body. In the frog this is not 

 the case : the temperature of the animal is always 

 nearly the same as that of the air or water in which it 

 lives, and hence the frosts of winter would be fatal to it, 

 but for the habit of hibernation (p. 8). 



Death, and Decomposition. The decomposition under- 

 gone by a dead frog (p. n) may be looked upon as an ex- 

 cessive process of waste unaccompanied by repair. Owing 

 to the action of certain microscopic plants known as 

 Bacteria , which will be referred to again in Part II., the 

 proteids undergo oxidation, amongst the principal products 

 of which are water, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and certain 

 gases of evil odour, such as sulphuretted hydrogen and 

 ammonium sulphide. Most of the gases escape into the air, 

 while the ammonia is finally converted into nitrous and nitric 

 acids. These, combining with certain substances in the 

 soil, give rise to. salts called nitrates and nitrites, which 

 furnish one of the chief sources of the food of plants. 



PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS 

 The Organs of Respiration and of Voice, Pin down a frog in 



the usual way (pp. 31 and 32), remove the heart, and make out the 

 precise relation of the lungs, first distending them with air through the 

 glottis. The specimen already used for the dissection of the vascular 

 system or alimentary canal will serve the purpose. Harden thoroughly 

 in formaline or spirit and note (Fig. 44) the laryngo-tracheal chamber, 

 which communicates on the one hand with the pharynx through the 

 glottis, and on the other with both lungs. Observe also the posterior 

 horns of the hyoid which embrace the glottis, and then separate them 



