28 



FIRST LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY 



shining, black, and bead-like, and in the toad strings are 

 arranged in single rows. If they have been recently laid, 

 the enclosing jelly mass -will be clean and clear, but it 

 soon becomes partly covered with fine mud, when the 

 e"-CTS are not so easily seen. Bring some egg masses to 

 the schoolroom and keep them in water in a light warm 

 place, but not in the direct sunlight. 



Fig. 15. — Garden toad. (From life.) 



Examine the eggs several times a day, as hatching 

 occurs in two or three days after they are laid. The 

 developing embr\'o can be clearly seen through the trans- 

 parent jelly. Watch for their first movements and note 

 their change in form, l^lnall)' they wriggle out from the 

 jelly mass and swim freel)- in the water, or attach them- 

 selves, by means of a little V-shaped sucker on the head, 

 to some solid object. The)' are not like adult frogs or 

 toads at all, but are the familiar little fish-like tadpoles 

 (fig. 16). 



The tadpoles. — To rear tadpoles successfully in the 

 schoolroom requires some pains. h'irst, a proper little 

 artificial pond must be made. Professor Gage, of Cornell 

 University, who has successfully reared man)- broods, 

 gives the following directions for caring for them: 



