Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 49.djvu/195

Rh of a large, healthy frog in a tub of water. His mode of respiration under such circumstances is a lesson of itself, while the beautiful rhythmic action of his limbs in propelling himself through the water or diving beneath it is almost a complete treatise on the art of swimming. Its action upon land is quite as instructive, and the marvelous leaps and dives of one of these creatures can be studied for a long time with a very considerable degree of profit. Colton, in his Practical Zoölogy, especially invites the student to "notice how the frog sits when at rest," and I can heartily indorse the suggestion. Artists frequently miss it when



they come to represent a frog in the normal attitude of rest; and in my Scientific Taxidermy for Museums I was particular to devote an entire plate to this subject, showing the plaster cast of a large bullfrog taken from one of them in this position. But it is the camera that catches these attitudes the best of all for us, and last summer I paid very considerable attention to the photography of adult living frogs. Most of these results were as fine as could be desired, and one of the best of them is presented here as an example (see figure). If one will take the trouble to compare this with almost any of the pictures of frogs—upon direct lateral aspect—that illustrate the very numerous works upon natural