276 



LIFE, IN ITS HIGHER FORMS, 



little prisoner, as if impatient of confinement, tries to 

 straighten itself by spasmodic efforts, and at length suc- 

 ceeds in rupturing the skin of the egg and becomes free. 



It is now a Tadpole — a fish-like creature, without 

 limbs, with an enormous head, and a body thinned off to 



Transformations of Frog. 



a long tail, which is furnished with a broad finny expan- 

 sion above and below. The gills now attain their greatest 

 size, and consist on each side of a pair of much-branched 

 tufts, which, under the microscope, present a most inter- 



