RANA CLAMATA, OR GREEN FROG.
Lusty Croaker of the Summer Pond.
That he is susceptible of being trained, there can be no question. Man is not always viewed by him as an inveterate enemy, nor does he always dive headlong into the pool when his presence is near. He has been known to cultivate man’s acquaintance, and to live on friendly terms with him. Some three years ago a tiny frog was taken from a swamp by a friend and placed in a small stream of spring water that passed close to the house where the writer was summering. A dozen times a day the little frog was dipped up by the hand from the bottom of the stream, and forced to endure down the head and back the tenderest caresses. A few insects were then offered as food in conciliation for the liberty taken, which the little frog was only induced to accept after a great deal of persuasion, when he was carefully put back into his watery bath. In the space of a week, the frog had become so attached to his friend, that he would leap into his outstretched hand and take his food without the least distrust or fear. Even the voice of the master was recognized by the frog, and, when heard in the distance, was the signal for the strangest behavior. Froggie would leap out of the water upon a bare stretch of earth, peer off in the direction whence the sound came, and there await his master’s arrival with restless anxiety. The strongest bond of friendship seemed to unite the two. Not only was the frog able to recognize the voice of his friend, but he knew him in person as well. Repeated efforts were made by the writer to gain the attention and good-will of the frog, but all his advances were received with the utmost indifference.
While the species which I have just described represents the aquatic Ranidæ, the Wood-frog, its near kin, represents a branch of the family which prefers dry situations, except in breeding times, when the eggs must be deposited in water. The Wood-frog is somewhat smaller than the Bull-frog, and is clad in olive-green and brown colors, which are in perfect keeping with the coloration of dead leaves and dry twigs. There is a large black patch on the side of the head around the big ear-drum, which seems still further to distinguish him from his cousin. He is a very shy and suspicious creature, and makes a prodigious jump at the first intimation of danger, his leaps being so enormous that it is very difficult to capture him. When upon the ground, he can hardly be discerned from the dry vegetation around. By hiding in damp moss or in decayed logs, and in little hollows in the ground, he is enabled to maintain the moisture of his skin. He avoids the sunshine, and keeps close to the earth.
Another curious Rana is the Tree-frog. He is smaller than any of his cousins, and may be known by his bright green dress, which is spotted with black, and by a membrane stretched between his toes, which gives him a broad, flat surface, while it helps to sustain him as he leaps, somewhat after the fashion of a flying squirrel, from branch to branch. In tropical regions, where many of the trees are bedecked with gorgeous blossoms, Tree-frogs appear in the gayest of colors, the splendor of their garb being protective in such surroundings.
Dressed in black and light brown, and living in marshes in the Eastern United States, is another species—the Swamp-frog. His voice is a prolonged croak, which, to the practised ear, can be readily distinguished from the bawl of Clamata, or the roar of the Bull-frog.
Cats, geese, hawks, vultures, owls and other animals eat frogs, and the luckless creatures can scarcely appear without finding an enemy. But nature, who is a very wise and considerate mother, provides a means for balancing this great destruction of their forces in endowing them with wonderful reproductive organs. So prolific are frogs, that when the little black tadpoles appear, so thickly are they huddled together that the pond seems literally alive with their swimming forms.
In the same class of animals to which the frogs belong, as well as to the same order, but to a different sub-order, are placed the toads, somewhat remote cousins of the frogs. As the frog is well-known about our ponds, so the toad is a constant denizen of our groves and gardens. The frog, you have been told, is a species of Rana, and now I shall introduce to you the toad as a species of Bufo. In general anatomy they are alike. Their eggs and young are closely similar, and the stages of growth from egg to adult form are nearly identical. When the adult stage is attained the frogs and toads are very tiny creatures, but, small as they are, they are readily distinguishable from each other by the conformation of the snout, and by the larger development of the hind-legs of the frog. Their chief differences will now be enumerated. The toad has no teeth, but the frog, as has been stated before, has teeth in both the upper jaw and the palate. Similarly attached is the tongue, but the free end of the frog’s tongue is forked, and the toad’s entire. The skin of the toad is usually warty, while the frog’s is smooth. A rounder body, shorter hind-legs, less fully webbed feet and more rounded snout still further distinguish the toad from the frog. Their soft moist skin shows them to be Amphibians. The absence of tails places them among the Anuran, or Tailless Amphibians. Thus far they agree well together, but differences loom up upon careful examination, and we are compelled to say of the frog that he belongs to the Ranidæ, and of the toad that he belongs to the Bufonidæ. Of the two animals, the toad is by far the more interesting and useful.
The toad is almost unrestricted in his territorial range. He hops through the tropics and the temperate zones, and well up into the polar regions. Everywhere he is the same inoffensive, gentle, humble, useful and generally silent creature. But like his human brother he has his faults. He has a great fondness for bees. Happy is he when, brigand-like, he can stand by the highway of the bees and capture them as they return to their waxen city. Their wealth of honey he does not demand as a ransom, but swallows the little creatures themselves, alive and whole, and digests them at leisure. Bee-eating seems his only fault. Not only the hive-bee, but other insects as well, share his attention. Millions of noxious beetles and bugs are devoured, and the world is the richer by thousands of bushels of fruit and vegetables. The good he accomplishes largely outweighs the mischief he commits. So ceaselessly and swiftly he swallows his game, that a grasshopper’s legs or a sphinx’s antennæ may often be seen sticking out of his mouth, while the carcass itself is well down in his throat. French gardeners so appreciate his utility that he is brought to market and sold for a pittance to such as may need his services.
COMMON AMERICAN TOAD.
How He Manages a Difficulty.