ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



485 



BULLFROG. 

 Photograph by L. B. Spencer. 



It is entirely a work of Nature or rather of 

 the Sea, being merely an exposed sea cavern, the 

 roof of which collapsed long ago. Its ragged 

 coral walls are overhung with trees and vines. 



The collection which has been brought to- 

 gether in the Devil's Hole consists chiefly of the 

 larger food fishes of the Bermudas, such as 

 groupers and hinds, with many showy species 

 including angel and parrot-fishes. The large 

 size of the specimens, their richness of colora- 

 tion, their surprising tameness, and sudden 

 changes of color when food is thrown among 

 them, make an exhibition pleasing in every way. 



The accompanying photograph shows only a 

 small portion of the Devil's Hole and its collec- 

 tion of fishes. 



FROGS AND FROG-RAISING. 



IN the Laboratory of the Aquarium there is a 

 shallow wire-covered tank containing about 

 twenty young bullfrogs. They are the repre- 

 sentatives of a number of very burly tadpoles 

 which lived in one of the large exhibition tanks 

 last summer and furnished to visitors an object 

 lesson in frog development. There were tadpoles 

 of the plain long-tailed sort, tadpoles with short 

 tails and one pair of legs, tadpoles with stub 

 tails and two pairs of legs, and young frogs with 

 no tails at all. People asked about them and 



wanted to know if they were 

 easy to raise, how fast they 

 grew and what was to be 

 done with them. A few of 

 the smallest were eaten by 

 the larger ones, and a few 

 were given away for the use 

 of zoological classes in the 

 universities of the City and 

 so did not get a chance to 

 develop into full-sized croak- 

 ers, but the rest just stayed 

 where they were and had 

 nothing to do but grow. 

 When winter came they were 

 moved to warmer quarters, 

 where they thrived, and when 

 spring came were fairly 

 good-sized frogs — for eight 

 months' growth. 

 The keeping of these frogs indoors during the 

 winter is a matter of more importance than may 

 be supposed, since a good many persons seem 

 disposed to undertake frog raising and seek in 

 vain for satisfactory information on frog cul- 

 ture. The Aquarium gets its share of the in- 

 quiry, but the fact is, a good system of frog 

 propagation has yet to be worked out. The 

 Pennsylvania Fish Commission is carrying on 

 experiments and had at last accounts, distributed 

 140,000 young frogs to prospective cultivators, 

 in response to fully a thousand applications 

 from various parts of the State. The Fisheries 

 Bureau at Washington distributes certain infor- 

 mation on frogs with brief suggestions on frog 

 culture, but has not yet undertaken to propagate 

 them. Our marshy wastes can be made profit- 

 able by frog raising and private as well as pub- 

 lic experiment is desirable. The present brief 

 notes on what is known of the subject are pre- 

 sented more in the hope of arousing interest than 

 of stating just how frog raising should be 

 done. 



It is not generally known that more frogs are 

 eaten in the United States than in France, and 

 that the annual crop of American frogs sent to 

 market is a large and valuable one. Moreover 

 the frog supply is by no means equal to the de- 

 mand. According to the last Government statis- 



