CHAPTER XLI 
THE ORDER OF FROGS AND TOADS 
EGA UDA TA 
The members of this Order are the most nu- 
merous, most widely dispersed and the best known 
of the amphibians. In all there are about 
900 species ; and it may be added that the 
habits of some of them are very strange 
and interesting. 
In their modes of life, the frogs and 
toads exhibit great diversity of inclina- 
tion. The tree-frogs live in trees, the toads 
seldom leave dry land, the burrowing toads 
burrow in the earth, and the water-frogs 
live in water at least half the time. 
Some of these creatures begin active 
life in water, as ugly, little fish-like tad- 
poles, and their transformation into the 
perfect frogs may easily be watched from 
beginning to end. In some of the toads, 
however, the tadpole stage is passed in 
the egg, and at hatching-time a fully devel- 
oped but very minute toad emerges, and 
begins to hop about. Others again develop 
from the tadpole stage, much the same 
as frogs. 
The larva of a species fairly typical of 
this Order as a whole may be found in the 
tadpole of any aquatic frog. It possesses 
a big, purse-like head, — like that of a 
goose-fish, — and a long, eel-like tail, sur- 
rounded by a continuous fin. At first 
there is no sign of legs. The intestinal 
canal is very long and simple, as befits 
the vegetable diet of the creature. In 
the transformation process, the tail is 
absorbed into the body, and long before 
it has disappeared, two pairs of legs have 
grown out. The front legs are weak, but 
the hind legs are long and powerful, and 
being attached at the extreme end of the 
body they have great freedom of move- 
ment. They are adapted both for leap- 
ing and swimming. 
Of the adult creature, the body is short and 
broad, covered with a smooth skin, destitute of 
scales, and there is no tail whatever. The mouth 
FROM TADPOLE TO FROG. 
A series of specimens showing the development of the Com- 
mon Frog. Prepared by Raymond L. Ditmars. 
is wide and capacious. The tongue is not free, 
being attached at the sides to the lower jaw. 
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