438 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



cess. However, I captured twenty-five of them, and 

 one vicious hornet that had strayed in through the 

 open window. All these were successfully swal- 

 lowed by the frog in the most business-like man- 

 ner. A pink, fleshy tongue would be visible and 

 in an instant the insect would disappear. 

 When he came to the hornet the frog appeared 

 to think his food was rather highly seasoned, for 

 he winked his eyes several times, if that term could 

 be applied to the act of sinking his eyes down in 

 his head and then popping them up again. 



Next day he ate fifteen large flies, two big 

 lively katy-dids, and two full-grown fiddler crabs. 

 He had for dessert the same day a dragon fly and 

 an ichneumon fly. I tried him with raw meat, 

 but he could not be persuaded to touch it until a 

 piece cut to resemble some insect with long legs 

 was put upon a straw and dangled in front of his 

 nose; this he instantly snapped up. 



Insects, crustaceans, snails, and small animals, 

 anything with life and not too large to be taken 

 into the capacious mouth of this animal, are greed- 

 ily devoured, even its own tadpoles and young frogs 

 form a palatable viand for the parent. 



Once I took a dead mouse and holding it in the 

 globe, jumped it around to give it the appearance 

 of life. Without hesitation it was seized and de- 

 voured by the frog before he discovered that he 

 had been swindled by a corpse. He then opened 

 his mouth and with his fore feet deliberately pulled 



