676 Reptiles. 



We cannot lay down our pen without expressing our regret that 

 the Wanderer should have avowed his intention of never again ap- 

 pearing before the public as an author. We heartily hope he will 

 reconsider and amend the resolution. We heartily hope that in these 

 pages — the legitimate medium for such communications — "Essays" 

 from the same hand will again appear. When he has ceased to ob- 

 serve ; when he has ceased to commune with Nature ; when he can 

 learn nothing more of her doings; when he can detect no errors among 

 our received notions of the habits and lives of animals ; then, and not 

 till then, let the Wanderer of Essequibo cease to write ! 



Note on the Food of the Tadpole of the common Frog. In answer to your correspon- 

 dent Mr. Chennel (Zool. 579) on the subject of the food of the tadpole of the frog, I 

 beg to offer him my experience on the point in question. Soon after the tadpole has 

 effected its liberation from the spongy envelope of the egg, it adheres, by means of a 

 pair of hooks on the breast, either to the empty egg, or to some other substance near ; 

 although it is frequently found lying on its side at the bottom of the wells or ditches. 

 In this state it is entirely inactive, or at most its activity consists in only occasionally 

 flapping its tail. At this stage it takes no food, and must therefore be nourished by 

 the remains of egg within it. As the temporary external branchiae disappear, the tad- 

 poles become more and more active, and proportionably more voracious. At this time 

 they very actively search for food, though they do it without the least intelligence. 

 They generally, when in confinement, place their mouths against the bottom of the 

 vessel, and search indiscriminately in all directions to obtain it; and although on ma- 

 ny occasions, food was designedly placed near them, yet they never, in any instance, 

 turned to it as if they perceived it either by sight or smell, but came upon it by acci- 

 dent. So it is also when they are at liberty in the ponds and ditches. They are said 

 by some authorities to prefer a vegetable diet, and from some accounts indeed they 

 might be supposed to reject all animal food. This however does not appear to be the 

 case. In those which I have kept in confinement, I found that when I fed them on 

 the water-cress, supposed to be their favourite food, they lived contentedly on it for 

 about twenty-four hours, and then the strongest would attack their weaker compan- 

 ions, and in the end devour them. This act of cannibalism was generally prevented 

 by feeding them on an animal diet ; but still they always showed a preference for their 

 weaker companions. During the earlier stages of their development they are very ac- 

 tive and voracious, but as development goes on, and the arms and legs are getting use- 

 ful for progression, they get very inactive, and their appetite nearly leaves them. In 

 this state they lie very inactively at the bottom of the vessel, or leave the water, and 

 take shelter among the wet grass, and beneath stones in moist situations. So situated 

 they become an easy prey to their more active and less advanced fellows, which rarely 

 pass them without a bite. Hence, in this transition state from the tadpole to the frog, 

 they are frequently found in a very mutilated condition. So voracious is their appe- 

 tite, that if an individual in this helpless and advanced stage be left through the night 

 with the others, it is sure to be found in the morning dead and half devoured. While 

 their appetite is thus so voracious, it is not easily satisfied; for if a bit of beef or mut- 



