6oo 



The Living Animals of the World 



tadpole phase. While in the adult state they are strictly carnivorous, the tadpoles are 



veeretarian feeders. . , , i , m 



The section to which the Common British Frog belongs nicludes nearly 150 species, 

 collectively known as Water-frogs, which present considerable differences in both their aspect 

 and habits While some are perennially aquatic, others only resort to the water during the 

 breeding-season ; some are terrestrial and occasionally earth-burrowers, while yet another series 



is essentially arboreal. 



In addition to the familiar British species the much-esteemed Edible Frog ot the 

 Continent has become acclimatised in England. A dark-coloured race of this frog, supposed 

 to have been introduced by the monks centmies since on account of its esculent properties, is 



plentiful in the fens of Cambridgeshire, while a 



---r "Z ; ffreener race of the same sjiecies was imported 



to and established in Norfolk somewhere about 

 the year 1840. The edible frog may be 

 distinguished from the common species by 

 the more complete webbing of its hind feet, 

 the absence of the dark so-called temporal 

 spot that extends from the eye to the shoulder, 

 and the presence in the males of a globular 

 sac on each side of the head, which confers 

 upon them louder croaking powers than are 

 possessed by the common species. 



The loudest-voiced as well as almost the 

 largest member of this group is the Bull- 

 frog of Canada and the United States. The 

 length of the body in this species may be 

 as much as from 7 to 7i inches, exclusive of 

 the legs ; and its croakings, or more correctly 

 bellowings, are so loud that it may be heard 

 for a distance of several miles. These croakings 

 are most pronounced during the early spring 

 or breeding-season. In the Southern United 

 States, however, they are maintained more or 

 less persistently throughout the year. While 

 the British frog contents itself with a diet of 

 slugs, worms, beetles, and other insects, the 

 bull-frog aspires to larger quarry, and has an 

 especial penchant for young ducklings. As a 

 compensation the flesh of the bull-frog is said 

 to be very delicately flavoured, and the species 

 is so much esteemed in some localities as to 

 be kept in captivity and fattened for the 

 table. It has been recorded that the bull-frog makes leaps of from 8 to 10 feet in length and 

 5 feet in height. 



In point of size the bull-frog is somewhat eclipsed by a species discovered in the Solomon 

 Islands, and known as GuPPY'a Frog. This huge frog has a body no less than 9 inches in 

 length. It has not been recorded whether its vocal powers are proportionately loud. Another 

 large species allied to the Bull-frogs is found in South and East Africa, whose flesh is attested 

 to by Dr. Livingstone as being excellent eating and resembling chicken when cooked. This 

 frog, known to tlie natives as the Matlamitlo, is supposed by them to fall from the clouds, 

 on account of its sudden appearance in even the driest parts of the desert immediately after 

 a thunder-storm. The species, however, is in the habit of making holes at the roots of bushes, 



riiolul,,, W. ,V.u'i//..-A'.,i(, l'\Z.!i.\ [>ldfu,d-u,i-SuJ.. 



KU^NTGEN KAY PHOTOOUAI'H OF COMMON FROG. 



The relatively Miiall amount of l^one wliieh enters into the strueture of the 

 skull is well shown iu this photograph. 



