The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-01
A CHAPTER ON FROGS.
Produced Sweet Chipping Notes in
Harmony - Edible Frogs, Flying
Frogs and the Frogs of Literature
and rFraditi0u
From The New York Post.

and tradition.
From the New York Post
As you take a walk through the
marshes, when spring is merging into
summer to gather the marsh marigolds
and globe flowers, you are half startled
by heavy splash. "A rat" you say
but as you peer into the water-course you
see a long-legged frog forging his way,
Just above the mud, to the center of the
stream. You pass onward, and from
around you, on all sides, you see frogs
spring with quite a scientific header
into the water, until you are reminded of
some glimpse you may have had of a pub
lie swimming bath on a summer Satur-
day afternoon.
You take a walk on a moonlight night g,
under the shady trees by the mill-dam,
and suddenly you hear "Wur-ruk, wur-
ruk." The chorus is taken up all around
until conversation is silenced and any
sentimentality which may have existed
under the moon IS soft beams" is extin-
guished.
The hurry and hustle of the run up to
town from the summer quarters may
y
sleepless. From Just across the meadows
comes the concert of the frogs, and you
appreciate the lines of Horace in his de-
scriptlOn of the Brundusian Journey,
aptly translated by F'raaeis
The tenny frogs, with croaking hoarse and
deep.
And gnats loud buzzing drive away our
sleep
There are, however, times when the
CrOaking arOuseS memory. Sucnlit shall
be now as the sounds come across the
meadow through the study window.
The frogs are an extensive section of
the batrachianS, forming together with
the tOads the order "Anoura" of that
group. An idea of the distribution of this
order may be gathered from MIR Mivart' S
statement that a least fourteen kinds in
habit Europe and North Asia and
Africa north of the Sahara some
100 are found in the Indian
region, more than IS in Australia. no less
than sos ia tropical America, and So in
the North American region. There is no
need to dwell on the anatomy of the frog,
for that can be found in any manual of
comparative physiology, but there are
some points which will bear attention.
Every boy acquainted with country life
knows the tadpole, with its head and tail
so oddly proportional and the fringe at
the junction of the two, forming a tenn
porary breathing apparatus. At first it
feeds on the gelatinous mass in which it
dWelt as black Speck-unless indeed it
was tshed out by some cOuntryman as a
cure for rheumatism. or gobbed up by
the ducks, who are ever on the lookout
for dainty mOr5el Should it escape
such enemies, II lives upon decaying ami
mai and vegetable matter. for the con-
sumption of which it is fitted by the pos
session OF two minute horny Jaws. The
tadpOle is also Cannibal, and hesitates
not to eat his companions Many a boy
who has left number of tadpoles in a
glass jar over night has been surprised to
md the number considerably lessened in
the morning. If left another night, there
would be a further decrease, until event
ually only one would remain.
On leaving the water, frogs live on in
seCtS-tlies, beetles. etc.-on worms and
slugs. They are among the farmers best
friends, and instances have occurred in
which the stom&chs of frogs. taken from
a field infested with wire-worms, have
been found to be full of that pest.
The frog is SO often associated with the
tadpOle in the water that it may be worth
while TO speak of some abnormal ties in
the mode Of propagating the species. One
kind of tree-frog lays its eggs in the axis
OF leaves, and, therefore, they can only
obtain such drops of water as may be
lodged there from time to time The
young frog has a special brea thing organ
IN its tail. Another curiosity has beer
met with in the Solomon Islands
where the native boys collected for Mr.
Guppy a number of transparent gela.
tluOus balls rather smaller than a marble
On the ball being broken open, out jumped
tiny frog about four lines in length
These frogs never were tadpoles had nc
sign of gills at the neck, but certain folds
on each side of the body may prove to be
peculiar Temporary breathing organs. Al
American tree-frOg has a curious pouch
extending, in the female over the whole Of
the back and opening posteriorly. The
eggs are introduced into this as soon as
they are laid, and are developed in the
pouch. Another American frog from
Chill has very singular mode Of develop
ment. The male, and not the female
possesses a large pouch extending be
meath the skin under the whole sur.
face of the lower jaw and abdomen. On
the floor of the frogs mouth are two
openings leading to it. one on each side or
the tongue. The male frog takes his
wifC's eggs into his mouth, passes then
through the apertures into the ventra
sac, where they develop and pass out into
the world through their fathers mouth
again. Il will be noticed that in each OF
the cases given the habitat of the frog is
not IN or near water. They are instances.