128 



ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY 



vails in the belief that only the hind legs can be eaten, as a matter of 

 fact many persons, after, skinning, cutting off the head and eviscerating, 

 fry the entire body, perhaps in egg and bread-crumbs, perhaps without. 

 The main muscles, of course, are those of the hind legs, but there is no 

 sense in wasting all the rest of the body. 



Of our native frogs the common bullfrog, Rana catesbiana, Fig. 91, 

 is the largest and most generally known as an article of diet; it may 

 reach a length of 8 inches and its deep, bull-like roar is a familiar 



FIG. 91. Common bullfrog, Rana catesbiana; male. (After Chamberlain, Edible 

 Frogs of the United States.) 



sound to those living in the eastern half of the North American con- 

 tinent. In the adult condition its larger size and massive, clumsy 

 shape will distinguish it, ordinarily, from the other common species, 

 as will the presence of a fold of skin that arises back of the eye, passes 

 over the tympanum, past the insertion of the foreleg, to disappear on 

 the chest; the complete webbing of the hind toes and the absence of 

 the dorsal folds of skin will also serve to distinguish it. The color is 

 quite variable but there is apt to be a considerable amount of deep green 

 above and of yellow beneath. 



There are two species of western frogs that are found along the 

 coastal States; they are not so well known as the common bullfrog. 



