232 FISH CULTUEE 



kind of meat, but the best is fresh dead fish. 

 Forty thousand tadpoles will easily consume 

 25 pounds of fish weekly. If desired, the fish 

 may be ground or cut into pieces, but a few 

 may be thrown whole into a pond. In a few 

 moments the carcass will be completely covered 

 by himdreds of tadpoles, and before very long 

 there will be nothing left but a skeleton. 



Development. — When the period of met- 

 amorphosis approaches, the tadpoles take less 

 and less food, until, just before the change 

 takes place, they cease eating altogether. 

 Then the hind legs push out, ridiculously small 

 for the size of the body. A day or two after- 

 wards in the case of the leopard frog, and a 

 week or two in the cases of the green frog and 

 bullfrog, the forelegs break suddenly through 

 the skin. When this occurs, the half-frog re- 

 ceives sustenance by absorption from the con- 

 tents of its tail, as the fry of a fish absorbs 

 the contents of the yolk-sae, or a plant the con- 

 tents of the seed-leaves. The process causes 

 the tail to become smaller and smaller, until 

 finally there is only a small point at th© base 



