“How dreadful,” said Frank. “Hadn’t we better give them something to eat now, for fear they may eat each other up.”
“It wouldn’t do much good giving them anything to eat now, for they have no mouths.”
The Development of the Tadpole.
1. Portion of Frog Spawn. 2. Same after ten days. 3. A Newly-Hatched Tadpole. The remaining figures show the same Tadpole at (4) one week; (5) three weeks; (6) seven weeks; (7) eleven weeks; (8) thirteen weeks; and (9) fourteen weeks after hatching.
“No mouths, Uncle George?”
“No mouths,” Uncle George repeated. “Is it not curious? For four days the tadpole, or young frog, has no mouth, and yet during that time he grows a great deal.
“Four days after he leaves the egg his mouth appears. It is a very small mouth, fringed with frilled, fleshy lips. These lips are moved by a pair of strong, horny jaws. This mouth is very different from the wide, gaping mouth of the frog.”
Just as Uncle George had said, the tadpoles ate nothing for four days. Then their mouths appeared, and they began to eat the water weeds. But Uncle George fed them on raw meat. He said it made them grow quickly. A small piece of raw beef, tied to the end of a string, was lowered into the tank, and the tadpoles swarmed around it. What was left of the beef was pulled out every morning, and a fresh piece put in.
By this means the water was kept clean, and had only to be changed once a week.
“Why, they have no gills now,” said Frank one day, as he was helping his uncle to change the water.