Ranidse 



blood corpuscles (phagocytes) accomplish this retreat of the tail 

 substance in such a manner that the external skin of the tail is 

 not broken, and in fact, nothing of the process, except the result, 

 is visible from the outside. These corpuscles move out into the 

 tail and carry the particles one by one into the body to serve as 

 food for the tadpole. It is therefore true that a tadpole ''eats" 

 its tail, though not at all according to the customary manner of 

 eating. The decrease in the size of the tail proceeds rapidly 

 until there is a mere black stub left (Fig. 289), and our 

 tadpole looks no longer like a tadpole, but, instead, like a fully 

 formed frog. The skin is more distinctly mottled. That about 

 the eyes and nose is green and iridescent. The eyes are more 

 elevated, showing rounded black centres surrounded by a broad 

 iris, reddish gold in colour. The mouth is open to a point on a 

 line with the back of the eye. The lines where the membrane 

 of the gill-chambers joined with the body wall are still visible 

 around the arms. The head is kept above the water; the nos- 

 trils are constantly moving and the throat pulsating. 



It is not until four days later that the ear membrane is visi- 

 ble. Now the tail is wholly gone (July i6th). The frog begins 

 to show hiding and burrowing habits. In fact, young frogs at 

 this stage remain concealed under water, mud, or moss most of 

 the time, except at night. During the first summer the young 

 Bullfrog eats insects of all sorts, but by fall it is capable of dis- 

 posing of small fish. The Bullfrog, whose transformation has 

 been traced, was heard to croak for the first time in early July, 

 one year after its change. At this time the ears had gradually 

 increased in size until they were considerably larger than the 

 eyes. Head and body together measured over four inches in 

 length. 



Each of us has actually before him, or in memory, a typical 

 pond or small lake, for our country is everywhere made pictur- 

 esque by them. We have waded there for lilies, or fished from 

 its sheltered coves for pickerel, or perhaps for frogs. It is called, 

 indiscriminately, "the lily-pond," or "the frog-pond." The lilies 

 make a large part of its beauty, the Bullfrog a large part of its 

 life. The Bullfrog is the spirit of the place. (Fig. 290.) Inde- 

 pendent, self-composed, silent, he may sit for hours with no slight- 

 est movement to tell that he is alive. But he is fully alert to 

 every disturbance of the water and to every shifting shadow. 



238 



