THE FRESH-WATER AQUARIUM. 41 



pass an hour or two watching, to add to our stock of 

 knowledge, or even to amuse us for a while, and dispel 

 ennui If nothing else is to be found, let us take some 

 half-a-dozen tadpoles, or, as the country boys call them, 

 "polliwogs" (tell me, ye who are learned in such things, is 

 it spelt right ?) and watch their wondrous transformations 

 from the little seeming black ball, with a minute tail, 

 through its time of cutting its first teeth, that is to say, 

 its first legs, always the hind ones, until it gets its fore 

 legs perfect, and shedding, gradually, but surely, its tail, 

 it bursts at last on our vision an entirely different crea- 

 ture from the little shapeless ball of flesh we took from 

 t | lC pond— a perfect frog, and perhaps we may have the 

 luck to hear his first croak, which he gives remarkably 

 well as if he had been practising sotto voce ever since 

 he first waggled his tail, among his hundreds of brethren, 

 in pond or stream, and seems not to be ashamed of the 

 sound he makes cither. A young frog, just after he has 

 shed his tail, and before he has begun to grow into 

 froghood, is a more beautiful object than you would 

 imagine, who have only seen him in his native pond. I 

 once had a little fellow, scarcely an inch in length, who 

 would sit upon the highest point of rock that projected 

 above the water, in my Aquarium, where he really formed 

 a very ornamental object, with his light green back, cop- 

 per-colored stripes, and bright twinkling eyes, which lie 

 would wink at me in a most audacious manner, seeming to 

 enjoy himself amazingly. I have also watched toads during 

 their transformation, from the tadpole state, to that of 

 the perfect animal, for they, as well as frogs, pass their 



