22 LECTURE VII. 



light. The character of the genus is, that the 

 body is destitute of any particular covering ex- 

 cept the mere skin ; furnished with four feet, and 

 without any tail. The most familiar example 

 that can be given is the Common Frog, which is 

 the Rana temporaria of Linmeus, which is almost 

 every where seen in moist situations, where it 

 can command a sufficient quantity of insects and 

 small worms, which are its favourite food. As 

 a species the Common Frog is distinguished by 

 its yellowish-brown colour, spotted with black, 

 and by a lengthened brown patch or streak be* 

 neath each eye. It often however varies in co- 

 lour, running through all the shades of olive, and 

 sometimes even of reddish brown. The form of 

 the common Frog is light and elegant ; the limbs 

 finely calculated for the peculiar motions of the- 

 animal, and the hind feet strongly webbed, to 

 assist its progress in the water, to which it oc- 

 casionally retires during the heats of summer, and 

 again during the frosts of winter, when it lies in a 

 state of torpidity either phinged in the soft mud 

 at the bottom of stagnant waters, or in the hol- 

 lows beneath their banks, till it is awakened from 

 its slumbers by the return of Spring. In the 

 month of March it deposits its eggs,, in large 



