176 Life and Immortality. 



that comes from the egg is no more like a frog than a cater- 

 pillar is like L butterfly. It has a large head, small tail, 

 branched gills, and is devoid of limbs, resembling, in this 

 stage, more a fish than a frog. This is its early childhood, 

 or tadpole state. It can only live in water now, and swims 

 and feeds from the very moment it leaves the egg. Change 

 in form almost immediately begins, the branched gills being 

 drawn within the neck and hidden, a pair of fore-legs begin- 

 ning to bud, and subsequently a pair of hind- legs, which 

 push out much faster than the fore-legs. As the legs grow, 

 the tail is gradually absorbed and disappears. The interior 

 of the body meanwhile changes, the lungs and heart becom- 

 ing reptilian. When the gills and tail are gone, and the legs 

 are fully formed, the once-swimming tadpole hops out of the 

 water a perfectly-formed frog. 



When first the tadpole emerged from the egg, it ate the 

 jelly-like cover. Then soft animal and vegetable matters, 

 with the strengthening of its pair of horny jaws, began to be 

 devoured. Insects later on, and even its own kith and kin, 

 became its food. The fare of the adult frog is almost exclu- 

 sively insect in character, although necessity sometimes 

 drives him to make a meal out of some of his weaker 

 brethren. 



Seated in cool, leafy shadows, not far from his favorite 

 stream or pool, the frog watches with his great, black, gold- 

 ringed eyes for such insects as good fortune shall bring to 

 his retreat. As one hovers near, out flies his limber, sticky, 

 ribbon-like tongue, true to its mark, and the hapless insect, 

 adhering to the viscid projected ribbon, is gently and cleverly 

 deposited in the open throat, the frog maintaining all the 

 while an air of calm, superior self-satisfaction, as if he had 

 not so much satisfied an appetite as fulfilled the mission of 

 ridding nature of a superfluous insect. 



A most harmless, timid and interesting animal is the frog, 

 and often most unfortunate. He is the legitimate mark for all 

 the missiles that can be thrown at him by urchins wandering 



