squat.

4. It has large staring eyes, that can look about on all sides; and
when it opens its mouth its whole head seems to split apart.

5. It has webbed feet, and can swim well in the water. It has no
teeth, but lives upon grubs and flies and other insects.

[Illustration: Frog's Head, showing Tongue]

6. When a fly comes within reach, the frog does not jump at it, but
just darts out its long tongue, covered with slime, so quickly that
the fly is caught before it has time to stir.

7. It lives both upon land and in the water. When in the water, it can
open and shut its webbed feet like a fan, and so can swim rapidly.

8. When upon the land, it can not walk or run, but it gets along by
hops. It sits on its hind feet, and suddenly straightens out its hind
legs, and away it goes in a great leap.

9. When the cold weather comes, the frog crawls into some hole, or
under the bank near the water, and goes to sleep for the winter.

10. The cold does not kill him, and, when the warm spring days come,
he wakes up and comes out ready for the work which he is to do.

LESSON XLVII.

_FROM TADPOLE TO FROG._

[Illustration]

1. In the spring of the year the frog lays its eggs in the water.
These eggs are small and round, but soon swell out to the size of a
large pea. Each egg has in it a black speck, not much larger than a
pin's head.

2. This speck grows, and in the course of a few days out comes a
tadpole about half an inch long. Now, a tadpole has a round head,
with a flat tail on one side, but no body.

3. The tadpole can swim with its tail, like a fish. On each side of
the head is a small tuft of soft pink threads. These are gills,
through which it can breathe the air which is in the water.

4. Then the body grows, and in a short time two little legs come out
right where the tail joins the body. In a few days more two other legs
come out just back of the eyes, and then we have a tadpole with four
legs.

5. But now another change takes place. Lungs for breathing air begin
to grow inside, and the gills become smaller. For a time the tadpole
breathes partly in the water, with his gills, and partly in the air,
with his lungs.

6. Next the gills dry up, and then it comes to the top of the water to
breathe; and it looks very much like a frog, except that it has a
tail.

7. At last the tail shrinks away, and the tadpole has become a perfect
frog. In hot weather all these changes take place in a few week