, 1889-04-24
AN ANrEpILUvIAN FROG.
Found sorIdIy In a Bank of

Found soIIdIy Embedded In q Bank of
Clay-DeveIoping His Frogship.
In the Plenty Valley, Victoria, some time
In the carly 70s, a road party were making a
deep cutting through some clay beds to inn
provo local traffic facilities. The clay bed
was a tertiary formation; It was hard and Of
q yellow color. On the clay bank gum trees,
some hundreds Of years old, were growing
When about thirty feet below the surface a
block of this clay in falling broke into two
pieces, out Of which tumbled a little frog,
with a body about two and one half inches long
and one and a quarter inches wide. He
seemed blind and sleepy, though showing
every evidence of life; he was apparently us
strong as any other frog of the same size; he
was In no way thin; In fact, seemed to be a
well nurtured and properly cared for frog.
The block Of clay WINS reduced in size, and
the frog, with the two pieces which formed
the dwelling, was sent to the Neurological
MUSEUM, Melbourne. Mr.. Newberry, the
chief OF that institution, examined him very
closely and found that all the natural orihces
Of the body had closed completely; In fact,
there was Of them not n trnce remaining. In
color the frog was n dirty yellow, such as the
clay, without any variation Of tinge. Mr..
Ncwberry sent this creature for Identification
to Frederick Mccoy, F.. r s., professor Of
natural sciences, Melbourne unworthy. Pro
fcssor Mccoy identified him as a member of
a well known species whose habits were, In
time OF trouble, such as drought or cold, to
bury themselves In tho earth and remain
there until the condition Of things was more
to their liking. Members Of the species men
toned, however, were a yellow color notified
with brown.
After tho Identification tho creature WINS
agnin returned TO Mr.. Newberry. This gem
tleman determined to 500 II he could by some
natural process educate the sleepy specimen
into a more vigorous and better understand
ing OF bis duties rs a live frog. He was then
domiciled in a small fernery in the museum,
and 1t WINS decided to give him n bath every
morning, a proceeding which froggy seemed
strongly to object to, though he swan vigor-
ously while In tho winter. When put back
into his clay cavity he wriggled himself about
until no found tho old groove, folded himself
up and seemed contented. This cavity might
be described as fitting him where 1t touched
him-thnt Is to say, though touching him all
over tho more prominent parts of tho body,
the clay was not nodded into the hollow
formed by the folding of his limbs. After a
short while tho clay bed was taken from him
and he was put among tho ferns on the mold,
into which BIO rapidly SINK stern first by n
peculiar motion of his hind legs
For his morning bath no had to be dug up
daily, then back he would go again into Sc
~clusion. In a little while two patches Of dust
woresnoticed on his nose. These were exam
ined by a mngntfying glass, md it WINS found
that In tho center of each was an infinitely
minute hole just where tho nostrils should be.
After enforced bathing and exercise daily for
about SIX weeks the dull yellow skin covering
him began to come of In small patches; it
eventually fol- Off like the slough of n snake,
revealing him as Professor Mccoy said he
should be, q nice looking notified brown and
yellow frog, with bright eyes, mouth, nos
trils, eto After his skin came off he begun
to like the wnter, would jump into 1t, then
after a swim sit underneath tho ferns; he
gradually showed n liking to blink in the sun
and generally dcported himself In the manner
of a well conducted frog, though he WINS
seen to take any food
Ono day tho door of the fernery WIS left
open; whether II was that the Unsuitable de-
sire for sensation pervading our modern civ
~ilization affected him 30 that he desired to
800 how tho world had wagged since ages
agone he had bade It good.by, whether it was
for the purpose Of examining other objects of
interest In tho museum, or that he stepped
out for refreshments, or with a desire to go
a-wooing, history has not been informed; ut
all events, instead of meeting the 'lly white
duck" of the fable, he came In contact with
tho museum cat, who WINS proving around,
and, before an attendant looking on could
interfere, he was seized by tho cat, who, with
him In her mouth, dashed through an open
window into a shrubbery hard by and no
trace Of froggy was ever again to be found,
London Engineering.