382 



HISTORY OF FROGS, LIZARDS, AND SERPENTS. 



mals, until they have arrived at their fourth 

 year; nor do they begin to propagate, till 

 they have completed that period. By com- 

 paring their- slow growth with their other 

 habitudes, it would appear that they live 



of them. The American Indians are known to be ex- 

 cellent runners, being almost able to equal the best horse 

 in its swiftest course. In order, therefore, to try how 

 well the bull-frog could leap, some Swedes laid a wager 

 with a young Indian that he could not overtake one of 

 them, provided it had two leaps beforehand. They 

 carried a bull-frog, which they had caught in a pond, 

 into a field, and burnt its tail. The fire and the Indian 

 who endeavoured to get up to the frog, had together 

 such an effect on the animal, that it made its long leaps 

 across the field as fast as it could. The Indian pursued 

 it with his might. The noise he made in running 

 frightened the poor frog; probably it was afraid of being 

 tortured with fire again, and therefore it redoubled its 

 leaps, and by that means reached the pond, which was 

 fixed on as their goal, before the Indian could overtake 

 it. This animal is called the bull-frog on account of its 

 croaking, which is said somewhat to resemble the hoarse 

 lowing of a bull ; and when, in a calm night, many of 

 theni are making a noise together, they may be heard to 

 the distance of a mile and a half. The night is the time 

 when they croak, and they are said to do it at inter- 

 vals. In this act they are either hidden among the 

 grass or rushes, or they are in the water, with their heads 

 above the surface. Kalm informs us that, as he was one 

 day riding out, he heard one of them roaring before him, 

 and supposed it to be a bull hidden in the bushes at a 

 little distance. The voice was, indeed, more hoarse than 

 that of a bull, yet it was too loud for him to conceive that 

 it could be emitted by so small an animal as a frog, and 

 he was in considerable alarm for his safety. He was 

 undeceived a few hours afterwards, by a party of Swedes, 

 to whom he had communicated his fears. 



The Tree-frog, which is a native of America, France, 

 Germany, Italy, and many other European regions, but 



never found in Britain, is small, and of a slender and 

 very elegant shape. It is the only species found in 

 Europe of a genus called Hylte, which are distinguished 

 from frogs and toads by the viscous cushions by which 

 the toes are terminated. Its upper parts are green, and 

 the abdomen is whitish, marked by numerous granules. 

 The under surface of the limbs is reddish, and on each 

 side of the body there is a longitudinal blackish or violet- 

 coloured streak. The body is smooth above, and the 

 hind legs are very long and slender. At the end of each 

 toe is a round, fleshy, concave apparatus, not unlike the 

 mouth of a leech, by means of which the animal is en- 

 abled to adhere even to the most polished surfaces. This 

 animal, during the summer months, resides principally 

 on the upper branches of the trees, where it wanders 

 among the foliage in quest of insects. These it catches 

 with great dexterity, stealing softly to them, as a cat 

 does to a mouse, till at a proper distance, when it makes 

 a sudden spring upon them of frequently more than a 

 foot in height. It often suspends itself by its feet, or 

 abdomen, to the upper parts of leaves, remaining thus 

 concealed among the foliage. The skin of the abdomen 



about twelve years ; but having so many 

 enemies, both by land and water, it is pro- 

 bable that few of them arrive at the end of 

 their term. 



Frogs live upon insects of all kinds; but 



is covered with small glandular granules of such a nature 

 as to allow the animal to adhere as well by these as by 

 the toes. It will even stick to glass by pressing its belly 

 against it. About the end of autumn the tree-frog retires 

 to the water and lies concealed in a torpid state in the 

 mud till the spring, when, on the return of warm weather, 

 it emerges, like the rest of the genus, to deposit its 

 spawn in the water. At this period the male inflates 

 his throat in a surprising manner, forming a large sphere 

 beneath his head ; he also exerts a very loud and sharp 

 croak, that may be heard to a vast distance. The tad- 

 poles become perfected about the beginning of August, 

 and they soon afterwards begin to ascend the adjacent 

 trees. At this time they are particularly noisy in the 

 evenings on the approach of rain ; therefore, if kept in 

 glasses in a room, and supplied with proper food, they 

 will supply the place of barometers by affording sure 

 presage of changes of weather. 



Tree-frogs have been kept also by Dr Townson, who 

 had them in a window, and appropriated to their use a 

 bowl of water, in which they lived. They soon grew 

 quite tame ; and to two that he had had for a consider- 

 able length of time, and were particular favourites, the 

 doctor gave the names of Damon and Musidora. In 

 the evening they seldom failed to go into the water, un- 

 less the weather was cold and damp, in which case they 

 would sometimes stay out a couple of days. When they 

 were out of the water, if a few drops were thrown upon 

 the board, they always applied their bodies as close to it 

 as they could ; and from this absorption through the skin, 

 though they were flaccid before, they soon again appeared 

 plump. A tree frog that had not been in the water 

 during- the night was weighed, and then immersed; 

 after it had remained half an hour in the bowl it came 

 out, and was found to have absorbed nearly half its own 

 weight in water. From other experiments, it was dis- 

 covered that these animals frequently absorbed nearly 

 their whole weight of water ; and that, as was clearly 

 proved, by the under surface only of the body. They 

 will even absorb water from wetted blotting paper. 

 Sometimes they eject water with considerable force from 

 their bodies, to the quantity of a fourth part or more of 

 their weight. Before the flies had disappeared in au- 

 tumn, the doctor collected for his favourite tree-frog, 

 Musidora, a great quantity, as winter provision. When 

 he laid any of them before her she took no notice of them, 

 but the moment he moved them with his breath, she 

 sprung upon and ate them. Once, when flies were 

 scarce, the doctor cut some flesh of a tortoise into small 

 pieces, and moved them by the same means ; she seized 

 them, but the instant afterwards rejected them from her 

 tongue. After he had obtained her confidence, she ate 

 from his fingers dead as well as living flies. Frogs will 

 leap at the moving of any small object ; and, like toads, 

 they will also soon become sufficiently familiar to sit on 

 the hand, and be carried from one side of a room to the 

 other, to catch flies as they settle on the wall. This 

 gentleman accordingly made them his guards at Got- 

 tingen, for keeping these troublesome creatures from his 

 dessert of fruit, and they performed their task highly to 

 his satisfaction. He has seen the small tree-frogs eat 

 humble-bees, but this was never done without some con- 

 test ; they are in general obliged to reject them, being 

 incommoded by their stings and hairy roughness ; but 

 in each attempt the bee is further covered with tho 

 viscid matter from the frog's tongue, and when thus 

 coated it is swallowed with facility. 



A battle between a tree-frog and snake was seen in 



