THE FROG. 349 



The portion of brain which this animal possesses is 

 much less than might be supposed from its make : the 

 swallow is wide, and the stomach narrow, though capa- 

 ble of being distended to an astonishing size: the heart 

 of the frog, as in all other animals that are truly amphi- 

 bious, has but one ventricle, so that the blood can cir- 

 culate whilst it is under water, without any assistance 

 from the lungs; these resemble a number of small blad- 

 ders joined together like the cells of a honeycomb, and 

 can be distended or exhausted at the creature's will. 



A single female produces from six to eleven hundred 

 eggs at a time ; but this only happens once a-year. The 

 male is of a greyish brown colour ; but the skin of the 

 female is of a yellow hue : these colours grow deeper 

 every time they change them, which frequently hap- 

 pens every eighth day. The frog generally lives out of 

 the water ; but, when the cold nights set in, it returns 

 to its native place, always making choice of those stag- 

 nant waters at the bottom of which it is most likely to 

 remain concealed : there it remains torpid during the 

 winter season; but is roused into activity by the genial 

 warmth of spring. The croaking of these animals has 

 long been considered as the certain symptom of ap- 

 proaching rain ; for no weather-glass can describe a 

 change of season with more accuracy than this vocife- 

 rous and noisy tribe; and we could hardly imagine that 

 a creature of that size could send forth sounds that 

 would extend the distance of three miles. . All very 

 dry and hot seasons are allowed to be injurious to this 

 animal's health ; and as they live chiefly upon snails 

 and worms at those periods, they find it difficult to 

 procure a sufficiency of food. The method they adopt 

 to ensnare these unsuspecting creatures affords enter- 

 tainment to the curious mind; for when they observe 



