22 



BATEACHIANS. 



and no longer eat. To protect themselves from the cold, they bury 

 themselves deeply in the mud : troops of them joining together in 

 the same place. Thus hidden, they pass the winter in a state of 

 torpor ; sometimes the cold freezes their bodies without killing them. 

 This state of torpor gives vraj in the first days of spring. During 

 the month of March, Frogs begin to awake and to move them- 

 selves ; this is tlieir breeding season. Their race is so prolific that 



A^\1,W I t 'fes^ 



Fig. 5.— Dcvclopmeal of Ihe Tadpole. 



^■^'^f^ ""''^"S- 2. The EpK fecundated, and surrmmded liy its visicule. 3 First «tate of lite 

 iHdpole. 4. Appearance of tlie breathinK gills. 6. Tlieir development. 6. Fr.imation of llie hind 



'r^?l'uc.il„!rrri."V"T\e'";ir/e?t*t";;'^ ''-'' "^ ""^ «"'=• ^- ^"■''"^"-'- °' '-^etl^sVana 



a female can produce from six to tweh'e hirndred eggs annuallv. 

 These eggs are globular, and are in form a glutinous" and trans- 

 parent splieroid, at the centre of whicli is a little blackish 

 globule ; the eggs float, and form like chaplcts on the surlace of 

 the water. 



All who have observed the small ponds and dilchcs in the 

 couutry at this season, will have seen these light and ele-ant 



