2 6 
FROG. 
seldom failed to return to the water, unless the 
weather was cold and damp ; when they would 
sometimes remain out a couple of days. It is the 
character of these reptiles frequently to leave their 
natural food untouched while it remains in a quiet 
state, and to seize it the moment it begins to move. 
This Dr. Townson was aware of; and therefore, be- 
fore the flies, which are their usual food, had disap- 
peared in autumn, he collected, for his favourite 
Musidora, a great quantity as winter provision. 
When he laid any of them before her she took not 
the least notice, but suffered them to remain till he 
moved them with his breath, when she Instantly 
sprung upon and devoured them. At one time, 
when flies were scarce, the doctor tried to cheat 
her by cutting the flesh of a tortoise into small 
pieces and moving them by the same means : but 
Musidora was not to be trifled with ; she indeed 
seized them, but immediately afterwards rejected 
them from her tongue. 
From some experiments on tree frogs which Dr. 
Townson made, he found that they frequently ab- 
sorbed nearly the whole of their weight of water ; 
and what is very remarkable, the absorption takes 
place by the under surface only of the body. Mois- 
ture from a wetted blotting paper is readily absorbed 
by them ; and they have the power, it seems, of 
ejecting water with great force from their bodies, 
even to the quantity of more than the fourth part 
of their own weight. 
Among the other observations which this gentle- 
