To return to a description of the Edible Frog. Full-grown examples measure from two and a half to four inches of head and body; the females larger than the males. The head is more slender than in the Common Frog, and the brown eardrum is two-thirds of the diameter of the eye. The teeth on the palate form two oblique lines; and there is a pair of glandular folds behind the eye. The ground colour of the upper parts ranges from dull brown through olive to bright green, with dark brown or blackish spots on the back and larger patches of similar tint on the limbs. There is usually a bronzy-brown line along each side of the back, in addition to the central one already named. The back of the thigh is always spotted with black and white or yellow. Though the thigh of the Common Frog is barred or blotched, it never bears these additional spots. The coloration generally is much brighter where the vegetation is light than in dark swamps with sombre vegetation.

The developmental history of the Edible Frog from the egg to the loss of the tadpole tail follows much the same course as that of the common species, and it is not necessary to recapitulate it. The eggs are more numerous, one female producing from five to ten thousand. The tadpole condition lasts three or four months. Full-grown tadpoles are about two and a half inches long, of which more than an inch and a half is tail. The frog that has just got rid of his tail measures only half an inch. The young frogs are not such wanderers as their Common cousins, but remain in the vicinity of their birthplace, unless the pond dries up. They like to bask in the sun and wait till their food comes within range of their extensible tongues. They become mature between the fourth and fifth years.

[Pl. 102A.]][M 164.
Egg-ropes of Toad coiled around water-plants.
Common Toad.

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[Pl. 102B.]][M 164.
Newly-hatched Tadpoles clinging to remains of egg-ropes.
Common Toad.

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