COMMON FROG. 101 



characters in the philosophic world ; who, unahle 

 to account for the legions of these animals with 

 which the ground is occasionally covered in cer- 

 tain spots, at the close of summer, have been led 

 into the popular belief of their having descended 

 from the clouds in showers. 



As soon as the Frog has thus assumed its perfect 

 form, it feeds no longer on vegetables, but on 

 animal food ; supporting itself on small snails, 

 worms, &c. and particularly on insects. For the 

 readier obtaining its prey, the structure of its 

 tongue is extremely well calculated ; being so 

 situated that the root is attached to the fore rather 

 than the hind part of the mouth; and, when at 

 rest, lies backwards, as if the animal were swal- 

 lowing the tip. By this means the creature is 

 enabled to throw it out to some distance from the 

 mouth, which is done with great celerity, and the 

 bifid and glutinous extremity secures the prey, 

 which is swallowed with an instantaneous motion, 

 so quick that the eye can scarcely follow it. 



The Frog can hardly be said to arrive at its 

 full size till the age of about five years, and is 

 supposed to live at least twelve or fifteen years. 



It is singular that the celebrated Lord Bacon 

 seems not to have clearly understood the progress 

 of Nature in the formation of the Frog, or its 

 gradual change of figure from the tadpole to the 

 complete animal ; since, in his Sylva Syharum, or 

 Natural Historie, he speaks, as an extraordinary 

 and peculiar circumstance, of young frogs and 

 toads having been sometimes observed with tails, 



