16 COMMON FROG. Class III. 



phrastus, and other antients, about the silence 

 of the frogs at Seriphus. That philosopher af- 

 firms it, but ascribes it to the coldness of the 

 waters in that island. Now when Monsieur 

 Tournefort was there, the waters were luke- 

 warm, and the frogs had recovered their voices.* 

 Is it not probable that Theophrastus might be at 

 Seriphus at that season when the frogs were 

 mute, and having never observed it elsewhere, 

 might conclude their silence to be general as to 

 the time, but particular as to the place ? 2Elian,-\ 

 who quotes Theophrastus for the last passage, 

 ascribes the same silence to the frogs of the lake 

 Pierusm Thessaly, and about Cyrene in Africa; 

 but he is so uncertain a writer, that we cannot 

 affirm whether the species of the African frogs 

 is the same with ours. 

 Food. These, as well as other reptiles, only feed 



during a small space of the year. In a tadpole 

 state they subsist chiefly on vegetables, but 

 when they quit the water, their food is flies, in- 

 sects, and snails. During winter frogs and 

 toads remain in a torpid state ; the last of which 

 will dig into the earth, and cover themselves 

 with almost the same agility as the mole. 



* Tournefort's voy. I. 142. f JElian, Lib. III. ck. 35, 37- 



