94 OUR EEPTILES. 



The frog lived for several months, and was a very interesting 

 creature. When on the upper part of the fern-fronds, where 

 he delighted to bask, he appeared of a distinctly greenish 

 tint ; but when on the soil, at the bottom, the hue changed 

 to so decided a brown that it was difficult to find him. 

 During the time that these creatures were among the ferns, 

 I ain not aware of having seen an aphis, whereas, since their 

 decease, the young fronds (especially those of the Polypods) 

 are, during the summer months, infested with them. * 



The voice of the frog is not generally regarded 

 as particularly charming, and its vocal efforts are 

 commonly called " croaking ;" but there is 

 another kind of ' c croaking/' uttered by animals 

 of a much higher order in creation, which we 

 regard as far less musical. A concert of frogs, 

 heard remote from towns and railways, on a 

 quiet evening, is not so inharmonious as " croak- 

 ing" might lead us to suppose. There may be 

 something in association, being ourselves of East 

 Anglian birth, but we certainly like to hear an 

 occasional " frog concert." 



Mr. C. Darwin mentions a similar feeling which 

 took possession of him at Rio de Janeiro : 



After the hot days, it was delicious to sit quietly in the 

 garden, and watch the evening pass into night. Nature in 

 these climes chooses her vocalists from more humble per- 

 formers than in Europe. A small frog, of the genus Hyla, 

 sits on a blade of grass, about an inch above the surface of 



* Hardwicke's Science Gossip, vol. i. p. 86. 



