The Zoologist — December, 1869. 1931 



much longer and nearly equal in length, and the third the longest of 

 all : they are connected by a web. As a natural result of this struc- 

 ture the frog swims with ease and celerity ; il is a beautiful object in 

 the water, its actions being replete with grace. The colour of the skin 

 varies considerably, always more or less partaking of brown, but 

 shading off to yellow, red, and green of different degrees of intensity, 

 and always more or less blotched with darker brown : there is a large 

 and conspicuous blotch of this darker colour on each temple behind 

 the eye ; and others form rather conspicuous transverse bands on the 

 legs : the under side is always paler, sometimes approaching to milky 

 white, and spotted more or less distinctly with pale smoke-colour. 



The reproduction of the frog is a subject that has long engaged the 

 attention of naturalists, and has been most successfully investi- 

 gated. In the early spring the frogs are always to be found congre- 

 gated in shallow ponds for this especial purpose, the males, which are 

 almost invariably smaller than the females, generally preponderating 

 in number: the females appear to be pregnant, although no copu- 

 lation has yet or does at any time take place : as in insects, the eggs 

 are full grown and to all appearance perfectly ready for extrusion 

 without fecundation. This object is accomplished in the following 

 manner : the males follow the females in the water, and each, mount- 

 ing on the back of a female, grasps it round the waist immediately 

 behind the fore legs : so entirely devoid are the frogs of that conjugal 

 affection we see exhibited in some birds and sucklers, that it appears 

 a matter of the utmost indifference to what object the male thus 

 attaches himself: he will very commonly embrace any toad which he 

 happens to meet with seeking the water for the same purpose of pro- 

 creation ; and sometimes this act is performed so energetically and his 

 grasp is so tight as to strangle- the wretched toad : more than once 

 have I caught a frog thus attached to the dead body of a toad, and 

 that so firmly that 1 was unable to separate them : thus unnaturally 

 loaded, the frog will continue in the water for weeks, dragging with 

 him his offensive burden. Very frequently two male frogs will attach 

 themselves to one female ; less commonly three ; and in one instance 

 I have found four so attached. On the indifference of the male frog 

 as to the object to which he will attach himself, the Rev. H. Harpur 

 Crewe gives a striking instance. 



" Whilst staying at Rossway, near Berkhampstead," writes Mr. 

 Crewe, " I noticed the following curious circumstance : I was walking 

 along the bank of a small fish-pond in the garden, which was swarm- 



