The Tunef id Frog. 93 



some things do, at the mercy of the spoiler. So they always 

 carry them with them, the father dividing the work with 

 the mother. This is surely admirable. Yet, as Professor 

 Martin Duncan says, " Frogs have little to thank humanity 

 for." Children tease them, ignorant adults persecute them. 

 Men of science delight in microscopical and galvanic experi- 

 ments with them. Birds and beasts and fish and snakes 

 are perpetually hunting them. In the water and out of it 

 they are for ever under pursuit. Nor does much sympathy 

 attach to them in their afflictions because theyare only frogs. 



Yet if regard attaches, as it certainly should do, to that 

 which is eminently edible, we owe some consideration to 

 this creature. It is particularly good eating, and by the 

 draining and cultivation of the country, we have lost a 

 side-dish which the Continent and America more judiciously 

 appreciate. Again, if respect is due to that which is useful, 

 the utmost deference should be shown to frogs and toads, 

 who are the most relentless enemies of insects injurious to 

 plants, and a terror to all evil-doers in gardens and orchards. 

 Is admiration the prerogative of beauty ? Then where can 

 it be better bestowed than on the pretty green and red frogs 

 of South Africa, or the cornfield frog of Carolina, which is 

 dove-colour above and silver below, or the exquisite tree- 

 frogs, grass green and gold as a rule, but in Central America 

 sky-blue above and rose-pink beneath? They are all living 

 gems, and science calls them by pretty names aurea, 

 coeruleus, ornatus, pulcher, arid elegans. Even in mere 

 variety there is a pleasant virtue : for this we load the vari- 

 able chrysanthemum with compliments. Yet among the frogs 

 and toads there is a diversity almost as bold and quaint as 

 amongst the ochids, while for positive beauty they are, some 

 of them, unsurpassed. 



As for their voice, the poets have much excuse for 

 disapproval. 



"Gossips are frogs they drink and talk." 



