ORDER BATRACHIA. 435 



evening, to prevent the frogs from disturbing the repose of 

 my lord and lady. Even up to the period of the revolution, 

 this custom existed in many places, and might be truly 

 termed, without the affectation of a pun, to be a villanous 

 employment. Yet, perhaps, after all, it was one of the most 

 harmless (except to the frogs) of the " droits de Seigneur.'''' 



It is principally the males which croak. Their voice is 

 much stronger in consequence of the two sacs which they 

 have on the sides of the neck, and which dilate when the 

 animal cries out. As for the female, she can only swell the 

 throat, and produce a feeble sort of grunting. 



Love among frogs, as well as among men, has its peculiar 

 accents. It is an indistinct and plaintive sort of sound, 

 named ololo or ololygo by the Latins, after the Greeks, be- 

 cause the pronunciation of this word imitates the cry in 

 question. As this is peculiar to the males, the ancients have 

 named them ololyzontes. In spring it is that this cry is 

 uttered, as the tocsin of copulation. These animals when 

 grasped, or held by the foot, send forth a short and sharp 

 hissing sound. 



Aristotle tells us that at Cyrene, a town built on the coast 

 of Africa, there were formerly no croaking frogs. Pliny, 

 after recounting the same story, with this addition, that 

 croaking frogs were transported thither from the continent, 

 and perpetuated their race, tells us that in his own times, 

 those of the island of Serpho, one of the Cyclades, remained 

 mute, but if carried elsewhere, incontinently began to croak 

 lustily. But Tournefort assures us that the frogs of Seri- 

 phos, the ancient Serpho, possess the usage of their voice in 

 as high perfection as those of any other country. Peradven- 

 ture this may be a step in the Batracian " march of in- 

 tellect." 



Linnaeus and some other naturalists have pretended that 

 2 r 2 



