518 



THE COMMON FROG. 



exactly opposite to the popular notion that the rattlesnake gains a new 

 joint to its rattle for every being which it has killed. 



The Batrachtans are separated from the true reptiles on account 

 of their peculiar development, which gives them a strong likeness to 

 the fishes, and affords a good ground for considering these animals to 

 form a distinct order. On their extrusion from the egg they bear no 

 resemblance to their parents, but are in a kind of intermediate exist- 

 ence, closely analogous to the caterpillar or larval state of insects, and 

 called by the same name. Like the fish, they exist wholly in the water, 

 and breathe through gills instead of lungs, obtaining the needful oxygen 

 from the water which washes the delicate gill-membranes. At this 

 early period they have no external limbs, moving by the rapid vibra- 

 tion of the flat and fan-like tail with which they are supplied. While 

 in this state they are popularly called tadpoles, those of the frog 

 sometimes bearing the provincial name of pollywogs. The skin of 

 the Batrachians is not scaly, and in most instances is smooth and soft. 

 Further peculiarities will be mentioned in connection with the different 

 species. 



These creatures fall naturally into two sub-orders, the Leaping or 

 tailless Batrachians, and the Crawling Batrachians. The Leaping 

 Batrachians, comprising the Frogs and toads, are familiar in almost 



all lands, and 



£^II^^-^^S!Iir^^^HMfil^ ^^ England are 



well known on 

 account of their 

 British represen- 

 tatives. 



The most fa- 

 miliar of all the 

 Batrachians is 

 the Common 

 Frog of Europe. 

 The general 

 form and appear- 

 ance of this crea- 

 ture are too well 

 known to need 

 much descrip- 

 tion. It is found 

 plentifully in all 

 parts of England, 



o- 1 ui T « wandering to con- 



8iderable distances from water, and sometimes getting into pits, cellars, 

 and similar localities, where it lives for years without ever seeing 



The Common Frog {Bana iempmariu). 



