28 
FROG. 
time apparently stationary and without a struggle. 
Still it was hoped that the poor frog might extricate 
himself by his exertions ; but the reverse was the 
case. The jaws of the snake gradually relaxing, 
and by their elasticity forming an incredible orifice, 
the body and fore legs of the frog by little and little 
disappeared, till finally nothing more was seen than 
the hinder feet and claws, which were at last disen- 
gaged from the twig, and the poor creature was 
swallowed whole, by suction, down the throat of 
his formidable adversary. He passed some inches 
further down the alimentary canal, and at last stuck, 
forming a knob or knot at least six times as large as 
the snake, whose jaws and throat immediately con- 
tracted, and reassumed their former natural shape. 
As the creature was beyond their reach, they could 
not kill him as they wished to do for the purpose of 
a closer examination, but left him in the same atti- 
tude, motionless, and twisted round the branch. 
The peculiar manner in which respiration is car- 
ried on in frogs as well as other reptiles is worthy 
of observation. The organs contrived for this pur- 
pose are placed in the mouth, which is never opened 
in order to breathe, as the air passes through two 
small openings or nostrils at the front of the upper 
part of the head. It is indeed necessary that the 
jaws should continue closed while they respire, as 
they cannot perform this necessary operation at all 
if they remain open. When a frog is observed with 
attention, a frequent dilatation and contraction in 
the skinny and flaccid part of the mouth which 
