A DRAINED FISHPOND. 



the little black tadpoles true fish of a 

 primitive type in all but name swarm forth 

 and swim in seething masses in the momen- 

 tary medium. But as the sun begins to dry 

 up the water in their dwelling-place they 

 lose their fins and gills, pass from fish to 

 amphibians, and shortly hop ashore, pro- 

 vided with four legs and a pair of lungs 

 specially adapted for direct air-breathing. 

 There we have a marvellous piece of evolu- 

 tionary magic still going on every day before 

 our eyes, which would sound incredible to us 

 if a man of science reported it for the first 

 time from Central Africa or New Guinea. 

 The frog, in short, shows us successively 

 in his own person the self-same stages of 

 development which the various mud-fish 

 preserve for us in distant regions, as types 

 of distinct and unrelated species. 



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