204 



BACKBONED ANIMALS, 



places the eggs on the female's back, where they become imbedded, 

 cells growing up around them, the mother lying in the mud until they 

 appear, when a strange spectacle is seen, the young leaping from their 

 prisons in all directions. 



Frogs (Ranida). The frogs are the highest forms 

 of the order. The upper jaw and palate have fine, sharp 

 teeth (Fig. 237), and the throats of the males are provided 

 with vocal sacs. The bull, marsh, and pickerel frogs are 

 our common species. Their eggs are laid in masses in 

 the water in April, May, and June. They hibernate in 

 the mud during the winter. The bull-frog has been known 

 to attain a length of two feet, and its noise can be heard 

 for over a mile. They mimic the color of the rushes of 

 the river-side in which they live. Their geographical dis- 

 tribution is wide. One species is found living in the hot 

 springs of Pisa where the temperature is 115 Fahr. They 

 live upon insects, but the great Indian tiger-frog has been 

 observed to capture sparrows. The American leopard- 

 frog is one of the most active, leaping ten or twelve feet 

 at a single bound. In the paradoxical frog of South 

 America, the larva, instead of growing, decreases in size 

 to attain the adult shape. 



VALUE. The capture of edible frogs forms a valuable industry in 

 France. 



Works on Amphibians for further reference. 



" Smithsonian Reports " ; Holbrook's " Herpetology of North 

 America " ; Allen's " List of Reptiles and Batrachians near Spring- 

 field, Massachusetts " ; Huxley's " Vertebrates." 



Class V. TRUE REPTILES. SNAKES, LIZARDS, etc. 

 (Reptilia). 



General Characteristics. The true reptiles, snakes, 

 lizards, and turtles, are distinguished from the Amphibians 

 by having scaled bodies, clawed limbs, and by not passing 

 through a metamorphosis or tadpole stage, developing 



