Oct. ii, 1913. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
477 
Frog Industry in France. 
Naturalists have identified and described 
117 varieties of frogs, some of which are found 
native in every part of the world except New 
Zealand and the southern portion of South 
America, says Consul-General Frank H. Mason, 
of Paris, in “Daily Consular and Trade Re¬ 
ports.” There are in France, besides the 
“rainette” or tree frog, two edible species, the 
green and the red. Of these the green frog 
(Rana esculanta) is by far the more important 
as material for human food. The so-called red 
frog (Rana temporaria) is of a reddish brown 
color, mottled with green and brown spots. It 
is found in great numbers at certain seasons in 
woods, pastures and meadows, especially in 
damp locations and near ponds and water 
courses. It lives mainly on land and takes to 
the water only on approach of winter and dur¬ 
ing the spawning season, which is somewhat 
later in the spring than that of the green va¬ 
riety. Although eaten, especially in rural dis¬ 
tricts and by people of limited means in cities 
and towns, it is smaller in size and its flesh is 
so inferior to that of the green frog that it is 
not grown or fattened artificially in this coun¬ 
try. The large American “bullfrog” (Rana 
mugiens) is unknown in France except as an 
imported product of the United States, and al¬ 
though larger in size the French gourmets find 
it inferior in succulence and flavor to their 
native species. 
The green frog exists abundantly through¬ 
out France wherever there are marshes, ponds 
or sedgy rnargins of rivers or bays that contain 
fresh or slightly brackish waters. It feeds on 
worms, the larvae of aquatic insects, small mol- 
lusks, flies, insects of various species, and es¬ 
pecially the spawn and small fry of fish which 
renders it an enemy of pisciculture and exposes 
it to the wrath of fishermen. It is an outlaw 
for which the law provides no protection out¬ 
side of privately owned waters. 
The supply of frogs for the markets of Paris 
comes mainly from the marshes, and stagnant 
waters in the neighborhood of Montmorency. 
Vincennes and Boulogne, but they are brought 
also from the districts of the Vendee and the 
Landes, in southwestern France, and also from 
Lorraine. 
Most of the frogs sold in Paris are caught 
wild! but the demand is so constant that during 
recent years some effort has been made at 
various points to propagate and fatten them by 
more or less artificial means. 
The process is exceedingly simple. The 
best outfit for frog raising is one or more shal¬ 
low ponds or reservoirs, filled with grasses and 
other aquatic plants, and so situated that the 
water can be partially drawn off so as to facili¬ 
tate the labor of catching. Old disused quarries 
and excavations along railways and other con¬ 
structions are sometimes used for this purpose. 
If. as is frequently the case, the pond already 
abounds in frogs, they are simply protected and 
left a year or two to propagate. If food does 
not prove abundant the owner throws in living 
earth worms, for the frog is a carnivorous ani¬ 
mal and prefers his food, whether worms, larvae 
or insects, fresh and in a normal living con¬ 
dition. 
If no frogs exist in the water they are 
planted either living or in form of eggs, which 
hatch as the water becomes warm in April and 
May. The green frog spawns during early 
spring, the female depositing from 600 to 1,000 
eggs, surrounding with a gelatinous substance 
which holds them together. With no further 
care from the parent, the eggs hatch at the end 
of a week or 10 days, according to the tempera¬ 
ture of the water. Each egg produces a tad¬ 
pole (tetard), which is at first a fish with a 
long flexible tail, and respires by means of gills. 
Subsequently the hinder, then the forward, legs 
appear, the tail shrinks and disappears, and the 
lungs and respiratory apparatus of a batrachian 
reptile, capable of torpid hibernation. 
The hatching and transformation take place 
within a period of about four months, and the 
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frog hatched in April or May, although not fully 
grown until the following year, is ready for 
market by the end of October. 
Among the advantages of frog farming is 
the fact .that it enables persons of limited means 
to utilize marshes and ponds which are too 
shallow and warm for fish culture and practi¬ 
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amount of valuable food material for which 
there is always an eager market. 
Frogs of all sizes have a multitude of ene¬ 
mies, and one of the important problems in 
their propagation is to protect them, as far as 
may be, from the hawks, owls, storks, rats, fish, 
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