to the fore-part of the mouth, so that, when unem. ployed, it lies with the tip towards the throat. The animal by this singular contrivance is enabled to bend it to a considerable distance out of its mouth. When it is about to seize on any object, it darts it out with great agility, and the prey is secured on its broad and jagged glutinous extremity. This it swallows with so instantaneous a motion that the eye can scarcely follow it*.

Nothing can appear more awkward and ludicrous than a Frog engaged with a large Worm or a small snake; for nature seems to have put a restraint upon the voracity of these animals, by forming them very unaptly for seizing and holding their larger prey. Dr. Townson had a large Frog that one day swallowed in his presence a blind wormt near a span long, which in its struggles frequently got half its body out again: when completely swallowed, its contortions were very visible in the flaccid sides of its victor‡.

With respect to the popular superstition that Frogs frequently descend from the clouds, Mr. Ray informs us that, as he was riding one afternoon in Berkshire, he was much surprised at seeing an immense multitude of Frogs crossing the road. On further examination he found two or three acres of ground nearly covered with them; they were all proceeding in the same direction, towards some woods and ditches that were before them. He

* Shaw's Gen. Zool. iii. 97.

↑ Anguis fragilis of Linnæus.

‡ Townson's Tracts.

however traced them back to the side of a very large pond, which in spawning-time he was informed always abounded so much with Frogs that their croaking was frequently heard to a great distance; and he therefore naturally concluded that instead of being precipitated from the clouds, they had been bred there, and had been invited by a refreshing shower, which had just before fallen, to go out either in pursuit of food or of a more convenient habitation*.

Frogs are numerous in the parts of America, about Hudson's Bay, as far north as latitude 61°. They frequent there the margins of lakes, ponds, rivers, and swamps; and as the winter approaches, they burrow under the moss, at a considerable distance from the water, where they remain in a frozen state till spring. Mr. Hearne says, he has frequently seen them dug up with the moss frozen as hard as ice. In this state their legs are as easily broken off as the stem of a tobacco-pipe, without giving them the least sensation: but by wrapping them up in warm skins, and exposing them to a slow fire, they soon come to life, and the mutilated animals gain their usual activity: if, however, they are permitted to freeze again, they are past all recovery.

The mode of respiration in these animals, in common with many of the other reptiles, is exceedingly curious. The organs adapted to this use are not placed in the belly, nor in the lungs themselves,

* Ray's Wonders of the Creation, 163.

† Hearne, 397

but in the mouth. Behind the root of the tongue is the slit-like opening of the trachea: and at the front of the upper part of the head are two nostrils, through which the animal always draws the air, never opening its mouth for this purpose. Indeed the jaws during this action are kept closely locked into each other by grooves; for if the mouth is kept open it cannot respire at all, and the animal will presently be seen struggling for breath. When we observe it carefully, we perceive a frequent dilatation and contraction in the skinny bag-like part of the mouth which covers the under jaw. From this it would appear, at first sight, as if the creature lived all the while on one mouthful of air, which it seems to be playing backwards and forwards betwixt its mouth and lungs. But for each movement in the jaw, a corresponding twirling movement may be observed in the nostrils. The mouth seems therefore to form a sort of bellows, of which the nostrils are the air-holes, and the muscles of the jaws by their contraction and dilatation make the draught. The nostrils are so situated that the least motion on them enables them to perform the office of a valve. By the twirl of the nostril the air is let into the mouth, when a dilatation of the bag takes place: it is then emptied from the mouth, through the slit behind the tongue, into the lungs, when there is a slight motion in the sides of the animal, and the muscles of the abdomen again expel it; and soon afterwards a second twirl in the nostrils takes place, and the like notions follow. Thus it appears that

1

the lungs are filled by the working of the jaws, or, in other words, that Frogs swallow air much in the same manner that we swallow food.

Frogs cast their skins at certain periods. They arrive at full age in about five years, and are supposed to live to twelve or fifteen. -Their voice is hoarse and unpleasant. They are so tenacious of life as to survive even the loss of their head for several hours.

This species is not so much in request for food as the following, not being so white, nor altogether so palatable. The hind-legs, however, are eaten, and the fore-legs and livers often form an ingredient in the continental soups.

THE EDIBLE FROG*.

The Edible Frog is considerably larger than the common species; and though somewhat rare in England, is found in plenty in Italy, France, and Germany.

Its colour is an olive green, distinctly marked with black patches on the back, and on its limbs with transverse bars of the same. From the tip of the nose, three distinct stripes of pale yellow extend to the extremity of the body, the middle one slightly depressed, and the lateral ones consider

ably elevated. The under parts are of a pale whitish colour tinged with green, and marked with irregular brown spots.

The spawn of the present species is not often deposited before the month of June. During this season the male is said to croak so loud as to be heard to a great distance. In some particular places, where these animals are numerous, their croaking is very oppressive to persons unaccustomed to it. The globules of spawn are smaller than those of the Common Frog, and the young are considerably longer in attaining their complete state, this seldom taking place till November. They arrive at their full growth in about four years, and live to the age of sixteen or seventeen. They are excessively voracious, frequently seizing young birds, and even mice, which, like the rest of their prey of snails, worms, &c. they swallow whole*.

In

These creatures are brought from the country, thirty or forty thousand at a time, to Vienna, and sold to the great dealers, who have conservatories for them, which are large holes, four or five feet deep, dug in the ground, the mouth covered with a board, and in severe weather with straw. these conservatories even during a hard frost, the frogs never become quite torpid. When taken out and placed on their backs, they are always sensible of the change, and have strength enough to turn themselves. They get together in heaps, one upon