THE LIVING WORLD. 
136 
GREEN BULL FROG. 
the battle, called his fisherman to fetch his nets, and by all means to get the 
pike, that they might declare what had happened. The pike was drawn forth, 
and both his eyes eaten out; at which when they began to wonder, the fisher¬ 
man wished them to 
forbear, and assured 
them he was certain 
that pikes were often 
so served.” 
The ordinary life 
of the frog and toad 
is supposed to be fif¬ 
teen years, though 
Mr. Arscott declares 
he kept a toad for 
thirty-six years that 
finally lost its life by 
injury from a tame 
raven. 
Many stories are 
told of the toad’s 
venom and infection, but such are only idle fictions, for no creature is more 
harmless, or, I may add, of greater service to the gardener, since its chief 
subsistence is off the most noxious insects. So, also, are the stories without 
a grain of truth that represent living frogs as having been taken from the 
centre of stones and of large trees. His vitality is very great, but he per¬ 
ishes as quickly under the air-pump as any other reptile, though he may 
survive a fast of 
several months, as 
can many snakes. 
Equally discred¬ 
itable are the asser¬ 
tions made by many 
respectable and 
otherwise trustwor¬ 
thy persons to the 
effect that cancers 
are curable by the 
application of toads, 
which are repre¬ 
sented as sucking 
out the eating virus 
and injecting a 
healing elixir. 
Having thus de¬ 
scribed some of the 
TREE FROG (Hyla arborea ). 
distinguishing characteristics of frogs and toads, between which there is a 
pronounced similarity, we may proceed to a description of the several species. 
Green Bull Frog (J?ana esculenta). At the head of the order indispu¬ 
tably stands the American bull frog , whose deeply resonant notes wake the 
