176 Life and Immortality. 
that comes from the egg is no more like a frog than a cater- 
pillar is like « butterfly. It has a large head, small tail, 
branched gills, and is devoid of limbs, resembling, in this 
stage, more a fish than a frog. This is its early childhood, 
or tadpole state. It can only live in water now, and swims 
and feeds from the very moment it leaves the egg. Change 
in form almost immediately begins, the branched gills being 
drawn within the neck and hidden, a pair of fore-legs begin- 
ning to bud, and subsequently a pair of hind-legs, which 
push out much faster than the fore-legs. As the legs grow, 
the tail is gradually absorbed and disappears. The interior 
of the body meanwhile changes, the lungs and heart becom- 
ing reptilian. When the gills and tail are gone, and the legs 
are fully formed, the once-swimming tadpole hops out of the 
water a perfectly-formed frog. 
When first the tadpole emerged from the egg, it ate the 
jelly-like cover. Then soft animal and vegetable matters, 
with the strengthening of its pair of horny jaws, began to be 
devoured. Insects later on, and even its own kith and kin, 
became its food. The fare of the adult frog is almost exclu- 
sively insect in character, although necessity sometimes 
drives him to make a meal out of some of his weaker 
brethren. 
Seated in cool, leafy shadows, not far from his favorite 
stream or pool, the frog watches with his great, black, gold- 
ringed eyes for such insects as good fortune shall bring to 
his retreat. As one hovers near, out flies his limber, sticky, 
ribbon-like tongue, true to its mark, and the hapless insect, 
adhering to the viscid projected ribbon, is gently and cleverly 
deposited in the open throat, the frog maintaining all the 
while an air of calm, superior self-satisfaction, as if he had 
not so much satisfied an appetite as fulfilled the mission of 
ridding nature of a superfluous insect. 
A most harmless, timid and interesting animal is the frog, 
and often most unfortunate. He isthe legitimate mark for all 
the missiles that can be thrown at him by urchins wandering 
