97 



COMMON FROG. 



Rana Temporaria. R.fusco-Jlavescens, nigro maculata, macula 



suboculari elongatafusca. 

 yellowish-brown Frog, spotted with black, with elongated 



brown patch beneath the eyes. 

 Rana temporaria. R. dorso planiusculo subangulato, Lin, Syst» 



Nat. p. 357. 



Rana fusca terrestris. Roes. Hist. Ran. p. 1. f. 1. Spc. 



Rana. Aldr. ovip. p. 89. 



Rana aquatica innoxia. Gesn. aq. p. 805. 



Rana aquatica. Raj. Quadr. p. 24-1. 



The Common Frog. 



This is the most common of all tlie European 

 species, being almost every where seen in moist 

 situations, or wherever it can command a suffi- 

 cient quantity of insects, worms, &c. on which it 

 feeds. In colour it varies considerably, but its 

 general tinge is olive- brown, variegated on the 

 upper parts of the body and limbs Avith irregular 

 blackish spots ; those on the limbs being mostly 

 disposed in a transverse direction : beneath each 

 eye is a longish mark or patch, reaching to the 

 setting on of the fore legs, and which seems to 

 form one of its principal specific distinctions. 

 The lower or under parts are of a pale greenish yel- 

 low cast, and much more obscurely spotted and 

 variegated than the upper surface. The Frog, 

 however, is not unfrequently seen, and more espe- 

 cially towards the close of summer, of a much 

 brighter cast ; being of a reddish or ferruginous 

 rather than of an olive colour on the upper parts, 



V. III. p. I. 7 



