20 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



inharmonic consonants, brekekexkoax, coax ! It is principally during 

 rain, or in the evenings and mornings of hot days, that frogs are to 

 be heard. Under the feudal system, during the " good old times " 

 of the Middle Ages, the country seats of many of the nobility and 

 country squires were surrounded by ditches half full of water, and, 

 as might be expected, inhabited by a population of frogs. Vassals 

 and villeins were ordered to beat the water in these ditches morning 

 and evening in order to keep the frogs from croaking and disturbing 

 the sleep of the lords and masters of the houses. Independent of 

 the resounding and prolonged cries of which we have spoken, at 

 certain times the male frog calls the female in a dull voice, so plain- 

 tive that the Romans described it by the words " ololo," or " ololygo." 

 " Truly," says Lacepede, " the accent of love is always mingled with 

 some sweetness." 



When autumn arrives Frogs lose their voracity, and cease to eat. 

 To protect themselves from the cold, when the season has advanced, 

 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. This state gives way early in spring. During the 

 month of March they begin to awake and move about ; soon after, 

 their breeding season commences. Their race is so prolific, that a 

 female can produce from 600 to 1,200 eggs annually. These eggs 

 are globular, and are in form spheroid, glutinous and transparent, 

 in the centre of which is a little blackish globule ; the eggs float on 

 the surface of the water, and at a distance look like froth or air 

 bubbles. 



All who have observed the small ponds and ditches in the 

 country at this season, will have seen these light glutinous formations 

 swimming on the surface of the water. After a few days, more or 

 less according to the temperature, the little black spot, which is the 

 embryo of the egg, and which has developed itself in the interior of 

 the glairy mass which envelops it, disengages itself and shoots forth 

 into the water — this is the tadpole in its earliest stage. 



The body of the tadpole at birth is oval in shape, destitute of legs, 

 and terminates in a long flat tail, which forms a true fin ; on each 

 side of the neck are two large gills, in shape like a plume of feathers ; 

 these gills soon begin to wither, without aquatic respiration ceasing, 

 for, besides these, the tadpole possesses interior gills like those of 

 a fish. Soon after, the legs begin to show themselves, the hind legs 

 appearing first ; which acquire a considerable length before the fore 

 feet show themselves. These are developed under the skin, which 

 they pierce through. When the legs have appeared, the tail begins 



