Miscellaneous, 305 



West and South, where the people have not yet learned 

 to eat them ; for there are practically none to be found 

 near my boyhood frogging grounds, where I could 

 easily get a hundred or more in a day. They do not 

 get a chance to grow, for it is my belief that "an old 

 rouser" of a bullfrog, with a body say 8 inches long, 

 is at least a dozen years old. I can't prove this from 

 experiment, but believe it from the slow growth that 

 several frogs of my acquaintance have made. One 

 that had lost part of one hind foot I knew for three 

 years ; it was about 5 inches long when I first caught it, 

 and had not grown over an inch in three years, al- 

 though in a pool where food was plenty. As about 

 9 inches is the limit, this frog had not ceased to grow. 



In the report of the United States Fish Commission- 

 er for the year ending June 30, 1896, page 497, Dr. 

 Hugh M. Smith gave the products of the fisheries for 

 1894, and we find the following credited to the frog 

 catch, which, as before said, is mainly sent to New 

 York and other large cities : Arkansas 58,900 Ibs., 

 value $4,162; Indiana 24,000 Ibs., $824; Missouri 154,- 

 818 Ibs., $9,676; New York 61,400 Ibs., $5,126; Ohio 

 14,040 Ibs., $2,340; Vermont 5,500 Ibs., $825. Total, 

 318,658 Ibs., valued at $22,953. No other States are 

 quoted. 



Few people outside of the cities eat them. When the 

 rural population take to eating frogs there will be none 

 for the great markets. I have seen whole frogs skinned 

 in Fulton Market, but usually only the hind legs are 

 used; for, except in the case of monster specimens, 

 there is little meat on other parts. 



The eggs are extruded by the female, assisted by 

 pressure of the forelegs of the male, who fertilizes them 

 as they pass out. 



